Awake, For the Stars Sing
by dancing-songbird
Summary: One day, a girl challenged a primordial, and won, though at the cost of her life. Having sent herself cycling through a never-ending chain of death and rebirth, she moves from universe to universe until she finds a world that calls to her down to the depths of her soul. AU from Silver Queen's Dreaming of Sunshine from the Land of Hot Springs arc. Please read that first.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, any Marvel products or the literary amazingness that comes from Silver Queen's Dreaming of Sunshine. The initial ideas and background of this story come from the We're All Just Dreaming of Sunshine Forum.

'Shikako' doesn't remember her stint as a goddess. She doesn't know why the Gelel stone keeps being reborn with her. Only that it does, has for the hundreds upon hundreds of lifetimes she's lived until she can't remember where one reincarnation ended and another began. When reborn as Piper, every being closely connected to the fabric of the universe can sense a change. Odin, the Ancient One, even the Infinity Stones react when her soul and the last Infinity Stone come back home. All Piper knows is that the starsong is so much more intense here. Her parents, her aunt and uncle worry, sometimes she zones out into trances that takes several minutes to coax her out of, longer if Peter isn't there. It isn't like she's catatonic or unresponsive, she's just... flighty and intense, speaking of concepts, things that no one sees or understands, disconnected. The doctors don't know what's wrong (or that there's nothing wrong), they just tell them that Piper has some sort of mental deficiency and prescribe meds that _never work_.

Peter knows there's nothing wrong with his sister. That just because she sees the world different doesn't mean she needs the meds. Piper hasn't even taken them since they were 8 and the ones made her nauseous and tired. It isn't until they're 11 that he knows that there's something more to her 'spells'. She has a big one, speaking of the power of mind and bending the fabric of space, mere hours later a wormhole opens above Stark Tower, and the Invasion of New York turns the world on its head. He doesn't tell anyone that her eyes gleamed blue and yellow. He tells no one when her eyes glimmer red, before Thor repels the invasion in London. The sparks of yellow that show up periodically for years before it glow deep in her eyes during the Ultron crisis. As well a burning shade of indigo that appears only once. She clings to him for weeks after that, as if afraid she may fly away on a breeze.

Then, Peter's life changes. He gets bitten by a radioactive spider. Uncle Ben and Piper were mugged, might have died if Piper hadn't taken him down. He starts taking to the streets, Piper does too. Then comes the Sokovia Accords and Ironman and he can't believe that he's here, and he's impressed with their work, the shield prototype they'd been working on for _years_, with its old parts and inferior supplies... Then they're fighting in new suits, and he doesn't quite know what's going on, but its an adrenalin-rush, and he meets, _fights_ these people they've looked up to for so long. He doesn't miss the look of confusion and familiarity Vision sends towards Piper. How his twin has a 'spell' in the middle of the fight, hears her ramble on the power of mind over their comms, sees her weave among the greatest of Earth's heroes like this was what she was born to do. And he's sure that if he could see her eyes they'd be gleaming with color.

Then- they go back, back to Queens. Back to Uncle Ben and Aunt May, to small-time crime and helping those on their streets. He doesn't miss when her 'spells' turn bad. When she speaks of the walls between worlds, dimensions, the demons of beyond this realm. How her nightmares leave her screaming of blood and fanatics, and the green that clouds her eyes as she speaks of time-loops and void, mirror realms and Dormamu. And he can't help, because he doesn't _know how_. What her powers are, (because they _are_, he knows they are). All he can do is bring her back before she goes too far.

Then there's the Vulture, and alien tech on the streets. Ned finds out that they're the Twin Spiders. He messes up, leading to Mr. Stark taking their suits. And Homecoming, and Liz's dad ending up being a super villain. Vulture drops a building on his head. Peter knows that if he hadn't been so stupid in trying to prove himself and brought Piper with him, he probably could have avoided. Mr. Stark gives them the suits back. Then Uncle Ben and Aunt May find out, and the explanations commence.

It isn't until later, when Piper leaves with Aunt May to work on dinner, that Peter tells Uncle Ben his suspicions. Peter isn't good with faith, he likes having hard facts and science, but Uncle Ben is different. He believes, believes in people, in God, that there is some higher power. Though Uncle Ben doesn't have any answers, it's feels good to tell someone. He knows that Uncle Ben told Aunt May too, because her worry when Piper falls into a spell becomes even more palpable. But they're together, and alive, so Peter can't help but hope that everything will be okay.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Marvel, or am I the author of Dreaming of Sunshine. I am but a simple fanfiction author that builds off of other people ideas because I find it interesting.

Tony had never intended to take on a protégé, much less two under-aged kids. However, it seems that life just has a way of undermining your expectations and pulling you into shapes that you never thought possible; case in point, the whole Sokovia Accords debacle. He knows that bringing two minors to a fistfight with superheroes probably falls under child-abuse, but at that point over half the team had just defected under Rogers' lead and he really needed some back-up with firepower to match. So he recruited the new kids on the block who hadn't smacked away the hand of friendship, Peter and Piper Parker.

Peter Parker: young, scientific genius at 16 attending Midtown School of Science and Technology on scholarship. Suspected powers being enhanced speed, strength and durability, possible danger sense. Equipment: uses a kind of self-manufactured webbing/ superglue compound that dissolves after a couple of hours of being exposed to air, as well as home-made 'web-shooters'. Close associates: twin sister and partner, Piper Parker; uncle, Ben Parker; aunt, May Parker; best friend, Ned Leeds.

Piper Parker: scientific genius of a similar caliber as her twin brother, attending Midtown School of Science and Technology on the same scholarship. No additional powers, medical file states that she possesses an unidentified mental deficiency where she falls into a fugue state. However, this doesn't seem to hold her back in her during her escapades on the street with her brother. Equipment: same webbing and web-shooter technology as her brother; possesses a solvent for their webbing. Close associates: twin brother and partner, Peter Parker; uncle, Ben Parker; aunt, May Parker; brother's best friend, Ned Leeds; close friend, Michelle Jones.

Originally, he had only wanted to bring Peter with him to Germany, but after actually meeting the twins, at was clear that that Piper wouldn't be letting him go anywhere with Peter if she wasn't along, and Peter wouldn't be going anywhere without his sister. And the shield generator that the two of them had built from scratch from thrown-out, dumpster parts, completely mind-blowing. He wouldn't be stealing the design from them, thank-you-very-much, (he wasn't Hammer) but he'd make sure these two got it patented.

Then Germany happened, and he got to witness Piper falling into one of her 'episodes'. Well, hear her at least. He heard as she pondered mind over matter, the power of convictions and bonds between. Watched later from the security cameras as she and Peter fell in as two parts of a well-oiled machine, successfully fighting Rogers until his back-up showed up. A fight that they had no business to fighting; where Peter could have died; where Rhodey _nearly did_. And then after that Ross started sniffing around the twins, asking for their names, their powers, to get them registered. _Vision_ asking who Piper was, telling him about how the Mind Stone felt drawn towards her.

Tony managed to get Ross off the kids' case. Assuring the war-monger that no, they aren't really Avengers, not Inhumans either, just very good back-up. But Vision's inquiry, that the Mind Stone, one of the most powerful artifacts in the universe, was drawn to Piper Parker. 16 years old, Piper Parker with a mental malady that no one understood. That stuck with Tony. He assigned Karen, the AI for the twins' suits, to run a full diagnostics scan on both of the twins, just to make sure the two of them were healthy. What he found didn't alleviate his concerns.

Piper let off an energy signature, one worryingly similar to Vision, the Mind Stone, and the Tesseract, and a x-ray showed a stone like Vision's suspended inside her heart. It didn't appear to be hurting her, or anyone else for that matter, but it was worrisome. He erased all the evidence afterwards, because this- this couldn't get out. If anyone like Ross, or _Hydra _found out Piper was carrying around a piece of rock in any way comparable to either of them in her chest- Tony could feel the blood freeze in his veins at the thought. He might not be able to protect her, her or Peter.

He gets regular updates from Karen from then out, monitoring her energy levels, concealing them from other parties, notifying him when they spike. He knows when her episodes get worse; striking multiple times a day, how under the mask her eyes glow green. How she screams the apartment complex awake with night terrors. And he can't. do. anything. because this, this isn't something he can fight. He doesn't even know what triggers them, how to make them stop. He can only wait and watch, and keep them safe.

So when he takes Peter's suit, he lets Piper keep hers, though she never uses it. Then after the whole incident with Toomes, when he invites them to join the Avengers, Piper follows her brother to go back to Queens. Though he's fairly sure she knows that the invitation hadn't been a bluff.

But then Strange, the magician, shows up, and Banner's back, bringing news that Thanos, the Mad Titan, is seeking the Infinity Stones, the aspects of Creation. That he already has two of them, has taken down the Hulk, probably killed Loki and Thor. His worst fears are brought to life. Vision, Piper, Thanos is coming for both of them, and he can't protect Vision, because he isn't here, and- Then the first of Thanos's men show up, and the twins show up, and he can only do so much. Strange notices Piper the moment she shows up, Tony knows he does. The guy carries around an Infinity Stone around his neck, a stone the very same shade of green he'd seen gleaming in Piper's eyes a year before. Thankfully their enemy does not, doesn't notice. He doesn't _know_ that Piper is so much more than she appears to be. Even as she's having another episode, the fifth one today, rambling angrily of power, space and time, of false gods and death and destruction. So when he sends Peter back down to Earth from the alien spacecraft, the last thing he tells the kid is to protect his sister.

After he manages to send the a**hole out into space, he and Mr. Magic manage to hammer out an agreement to stop Thanos on his own turf. Because he can't turn this ship around, and frankly, Strange flashing back down to Earth in one of his magic circles sounds like a terrible idea. Better to take down Thanos now, rather than bring him down to Earth. Banner will probably find the burner phone, so Vision will get some back-up. Piper's sharp enough to know that they should tag along with Banner. They'll meet up with Steve and the rest of the now-defunct Avengers and-

Thankfully, Strange doesn't ask about Piper, and they get to their destination without incident. The same cannot be said of their arrival. First crash-landing on the planet had been on auto-pilot towards. Then they get ambushed, by a mix-matched alien group called the 'Guardians of the Galaxy', before forming an alliance of convenience. They had apparently rescued Thor from the open-space graveyard that held the last of his people. (Jesus _Christ_ that makes Tony burn, because they hadn't heard anything from Pointbreak since he'd left after Ultron. He'd known it was going to be bad when he'd heard it from Bruce, but this was just some other level of messed up.) They had also lost a team member to Thanos when he stole the Aether, the Reality Stone, from some place called Knowhere. That Thanos had conquered and halved the population of the planet Xandar, capital of the peace-keeping Nova Corps, for the Power Stone that was under their protection.

Strange uses the Time Stone to search through all their possible futures, but according to him, the futures where Thanos will lose depend on them buying as much time as they possibly can.

Fighting Thanos was a nightmare, a nightmare that kept coming. It shouldn't be that hard to keep a guy from closing his hand, but when the guy could hit like the Hulk even without the Infinity Gauntlet... Well, you make due with what you've got. They hadn't exactly been winning, but everything went to hell the moment little miss cyborg showed up, coming with the revelation that Gamorra, their team mate, was dead, likely by Thanos's hand. 'Starlord' the Guardians' leader went ballistic, going from buying time to trying to murder to ever-living-fuck out of Thanos. The Mad Titan then breaks free and they fall like a stack of dominoes. Everyone else tries to buy as much time as they can, but Thanos stops playing around, felling meteors from Titan's atmosphere. Soon, only he and Strange are left standing. Strange tries to fight Thanos one-on-one, and then gets knocked away after his 'Eye' is revealed a fake. Then it's only Tony, then he's left impaled, waiting for Thanos to kill him.

Then Strange does something, strange. He bargains with Thanos, the Time Stone for Tony's life. In a move that Strange himself had assured him that would _never_ happen. Thanos takes the Time Stone, and Tony sees what he hadn't before. Thanos has five Infinity Stones, five where Tony had assumed he had four. Tony is left wondering as Thanos leaves. If Thanos has 5 of the 6 Infinity Stones, with Vision's being the last...

Where does that leave Piper?


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Marvel, or am I the author of Dreaming of Sunshine. I am but a simple fanfiction author that builds off of other people ideas because I find them interesting.

The stars were singing.

Piper could hear them, the drums, the screams, the death. She could hear the false god weigh his balance and find it wanting. He would be coming.

She looked at Vision _littlebrother/hewhoholdstheMIND _at Shuri _childofthepanthersland_, they were taking too long.

She hears Wanda _shetouchedbyastar/onehalfofawhole_ move, question her as Piper places her hands upon Vision's forehead, out of the way of Shuri's instruments. But Piper can't stop, will not, the horsemen are coming, Vision is injured. The stars are whispering in her ears, he cannot protect it. She must separate the mind from _mind_, free the star from its cradle. She hears Peter _brothertwinpartnerbestfriend_ as he calms the Young Panther, the Scarlet Child. But she must concentrate, if she wishes to save Vision, she must.

_'What is she doing?!_'

_'Trust her'_

The Scarlet One leaves, to give aid in the battle, but the horseman is _here._

_'Check the security cams'_

Peter listens, he understands, not all enemies come from the front and center. The Young Panther sees the danger, she arms herself, arms herself with song and stars. She is a warrior born, Peter will be safe with her. The horseman will not pass.

The starsong beats endlessly in her heart, minds unite under one goal. Armies and generals and soldiers; one to protect, one to destroy; one mindless, one of one mind; she must not fail.

The horseman comes, dark, and corrupted, mind broken to the will of the false god. He comes to steal the star, comes with blades of blood, armor of bone- and he will fail. The star comes loose.

The horseman falls, his mind burnt free. The star of mind sings to her, calling her to take its power. The pull is great, but she cannot give in. _Shewhoisone_\- no, _Piper _still has too much to live for. But the false god still comes, he who holds power, space, reality, soul with blood-stained fists. He who would bargain with the edge of a sword.

_'its okay, Pipes, he's gone. We've got to get the Mind Stone to Wanda.'_

_'What is she?'_

_'My sister'_

But she cannot rest, not with the starsong screaming in her mind, her heart. No matter how much she wants to lean back into her brother's arms. The star shines in her palm, but it is not safe. They are not safe. She must get away, keep them far from the false god.

_'Piper!'_

The fall is far, but she carries a star in her hand. She lands amongst chaos. Among monsters and men, heroes and horsemen, her mask is gone. She can no longer hide.

_'Is that-!'_

_'Shit, Wanda! Get over here before she burns up.'_

Time's up.

Thanos is coming.

Time-space-power-soul-reality- the stars pulse and burst, eerie and resonant, wailing out to the universe. Anger and pain, sorrow and regret, the man who balances his scales with the blood of his children. Piper will not give in.

Space bends. The stars call to her, bright and brilliant, inset upon the false god's gauntlet.

The Scarlet Child tries to break the star. But she cannot, she is of the star, but Piper _is_ the star. The star of mind, structure, creativity, belief, Piper will not bend, she will not break. And they will not get in her way.

_'What is she doing!'_

_'Kid! You can't fight him alone!'_

Thanos may hold 5 of the stones, but he is not _of_ the stones. He has no right, he is an usurper upon the throne of the universe. He cannot hear the starsong. It thrums in her ears, pulses through her blood, sings in her heart. Thanos does not understand the power of the stars, fails to comprehend the power of mind. If he had, he never would have left it for last. Whatever she thinks is possible, will be. Ideas, concepts, without mind there is no life. The mind is will, and will, will can change the universe.

_'Are you seeing what I'm seeing?'_

_'Holy shit, is she actually pushing him back!"_

The destroyer of innocents holds out his hand-

_'Pipe-'_

He's holding Peter.

_'Child. give me the stone.'_

The stars _shriek_-

**"No"**

Anger flares, fear snarls, love howls, the stars call. _Shewhoisone_ answers.

And-

The gauntlet breaks and _she__is__whole__._


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Marvel, or am I the author of Dreaming of Sunshine. I am but a simple fanfiction author that builds off of other people ideas because I find it interesting.

Rhodey had never had much interaction with the Spider Twins.

He knew who they were, of course, even he told his superiors otherwise. Tony was always shit at keeping secret identities secret. Tony recruits an underage set of twins, suddenly he starts pushing to patent new efficient, energy-based barrier technology for a Peter and Piper Parker; technology that Rhodey knows that Tony's been trying to develop for years to no avail. It helps that Tony ranted and raved about it for ages during Rhodey's physical rehabilitation, going on and on about tessellating patterns and whatnot. So he knows who they are. He's just never been around them other than the fight in Germany.

He knows Tony cares about them though. For all that he's terrible at words and emotions, he keeps a pretty close eye on them, which is pretty much Tony-speak for 'I care about you and don't want to see you dead'.

Unfortunately, that doesn't lead up to much real life experience. And that just leaves Rhodey feeling a bit lost at what to do when the Spider Twins show up with Banner on the Avengers HQ doorstep with new suits and a story to tell. Thanos, Infinity Stones, cosmic balance, _magic_, a lot of it goes over Rhodey's head, but he gets the gist. But that doesn't help him with the twins. The two of them are essentially inseparable and the way the two of them talk leaves him at a loss for what to say. Piper goes on about stars, of the malleability of reality; Peter follows along, translating her metaphors and poetry into thoughts and science. It's all a bit much, insults and snark he understands, but the twins' unique brand of casual insanity leaves him at a loss to understand.

Then Rogers shows up with Vision and the rest of the outlaw Avengers, and there are bigger things to worry about. In the end, he really shouldn't be surprised when Vision insists that the Spider Twins accompany them to Wakanda.

_'Why? They're just kids. They shouldn't be caught up in all of this.'_

_'I have a feeling that they'll prove to be quite instrumental. And it would be better if we approve and they accompany us rather than we don't and they smuggle themselves aboard.'_

Rhodey doesn't approve, not really. For all their eccentricities, they're still kids and have no place on the battlefield that is to come, but the twins do come with them to Wakanda. However, to Rhodey's relief, they agree to stay inside Shuri's lab with Wanda and Vision while Vision's having the Mind Stone removed.

The battle lines are drawn, and from then on it's the chaos that Rhodey remembers.

Rhodey's a soldier, a soldier who's likely been court-marshaled, but he's been a good soldier for a damn long time. That being said, this battle is like nothing he's ever seen. Force fields, spaceships, underground tanks, mindless monsters from Frankenstein's table, it's all bizarre and strange, but it is also familiar in the way all battlefields are. Take out the enemy, watch out for your own, and don't let the opposing side push you back.

Then a light falls on the battlefield, the world turns to see.

It's Piper. Her mask is gone, short hair flying in the winds, eyes blazing like a thousand suns, light rolling off her with wild abandon. She holds the Mind Stone in her hand.

Steve calls for Wanda, but it's already too late.

From above, Rhodey sees Thanos enter the battlefield. He sees as Piper flares brighter, burning with power, resolve. As she pushes Wanda away, with all the attention one would pay mind a fly. He watches she knocks them all back, far from the battlefield, far from the battle, observes as she sets up a barrier with a flick of her hand. A simple girl from Queens looking so much as a queen of myth descended from the heavens to wage war upon those who'd dare stand against her.

Thus started the battle of legends. Rhodey watched as he witnessed a battle of impossibilities. One, a warlord, carrying 5 of the greatest powers in existence, space bent to his will, reality twisted to his fancy, time reversed at his whim, power crushing all in his path; the other, a slip of a girl, holding one, yet matching him at every turn. A warlord who would will the world, face twisted in a glower full of teeth; and a child who held the world in the palm of her hand, ablaze with righteous fury. It was a battle for which the whole world would balance upon.

Where Vision had used the Mind Stone as akin to a hammer, Piper used it like a sword, a pen, flitting from place to place, enforcing her will upon the world. Where reality twisted, she forced it back. Where time shifted and changed, she shifted and changed with it. Where power crushed, she redirected. Rhodey watched as she screamed at Thanos, destroyer, false god, heard as she shouted of stars and usurpers, of blood and balance. He watched as Thanos grew angry.

The sees as Thanos closes his fist once again, space twists, and he holds Peter's throat in his hand.

_'Pipe-'_

_'Child. give me the stone.'_

He glimpses her face for a moment before she screams, before the world goes white.

Thanos has made a mistake.

Rhodey's a soldier, he's seen many people, seen just what humans can do. What they will do when pushed too far. And Thanos, he's gone too far. Rhodey doesn't know the Spider Twins that well, but he knows one thing. They'll do anything for each other, and God help whoever tries to break them apart.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Marvel, or am I the author of Dreaming of Sunshine. I am but a simple fanfiction author that builds off of other people ideas because I find it interesting.

"It's not safe. The false god will come."

Those were the last words Peter heard his twin say before she flew out the broken window, her eyes aflame with yellow, burning like the sun, the Mind Stone resting in her palm. She left, leaving him with a burnt corpse, an inactive Vision, and an angry Wakandan princess with sonic weaponry.

Is it really any wonder he left? They were twins, partners, anchors. She grounded him, giving him direction for his power, passion, pulling his head out of the clouds even as he flew high in the air. In return, he drew her out from the shadows, giving her purpose, motivation, pulling her back before she fell too far. They were better together; and he didn't want to lose her because he was too far to bring her back.

He swung through the looming towers of the abandoned city, heading towards brilliant light that was his sister. He wouldn't let her do this on her own. He felt as his spider sense flared, sending chills up his spine. Whatever it was, Thanos, the false god Piper had been hissing about ever since this terrible day had begun, her eyes flickering with bursts of indigo, it was here and it was powerful.

Then he hit the battlefield, and it was all he could do to survive. So he fought, Peter used every trick, every skill, every tool, every weapon in his disposal, Karen whispering in his ear, everything to get to his sister. He fought, he killed, he saved whoever he could, but he would not stop moving. He couldn't stop, not now, not as black blood splashed onto his new suit, a Wakandan spear gripped in his hands. He had to reach Piper, before it was too late and she fell farther than he could ever pull her back from. Because this was a spell, whatever was going on, whatever this Thanos had triggered, it was all linked to this. It was linked to this war, to the Infinity Stones, to Thanos, the false god, and he wasn't going to lose her to this. He's seen what it did to Wanda, Scarlet Witch. The ever-present pain of losing her twin, her other half, it's displayed in her eyes, her actions. And while he doesn't doubt the feelings are real, he sees the way she's attached herself to Vision. He sees the fear of losing it once again, leaving only the pain behind. So he continues onward, onward towards the barrier she's created, and the people defending it.

He gets there. He sees her. He sees the big guy with a glove who must be Thanos. He catches a glimpse of the monster of a man getting the wind knocked out of him by a girl half his size before cutting down another of Thanos's monsters. Peter also finds himself fighting alongside Captain America.

"Kid, you shouldn't be out here."

Peter shouldn't be offended, because by all conventional logic the Captain's right. He's seventeen, hasn't graduated high school, and small for his age. But considering this guy broke the Avengers and became an international fugitive because some guy framed his brainwashed, assassin, best friend, Peter is not impressed.

"My twin sister is in there, fighting a maniac who wants to erase half of the entire universe's population while channeling the greatest powers in the universe. Where _else_ would I be?"

And if he punctuated that statement by impaling his spear into another enemy, who can blame him. The Winter Soldier groaned from a few meters away, taking care of his own hoard of beasts.

"Good God, Steve, he's just like you. Tiny, loyal, and completely tenacious."

"Tenacious? That's a big word, Buck, you sure you know what it means?"

"F*** you. What do you think I've been doing, knitting doilies?"

Peter would join in, but he was a bit busy with his own opponents. He was getting tired, and staying alive was taking up all his concentration. He overheard his sister's latest diatribe as the furious Titan caught his eyes, raising his hand and starting to clench the Gauntlet. His spider-sense blared. Space bent around him.

"Pipe-"

He felt the giant hand encircled around his throat, crushing him through Mr. Stark's armor. He froze, unable to move himself or the suit.

"Child. Give me the stone."

_'He who would bargain with the edge of the sword.'_

_'It's not safe.'_

If he could talk, Peter would be spitting out every curse and swear he knows, probably inventing another few dozen. He was an idiot. This wasn't what he wanted. He looked into Piper's eyes. He watched as that familiar, brilliant yellow gave way to every color in the rainbow, burning ever brighter as her face drew up in a snarl.

**"No"**

Peter heard Thanos's Gauntlet break, the warlord's shout of pain, watches as the Infinity Stones fly towards his sister. The world goes white and he _moves_. He moves and he's looking at her back.

She's angry, furious, and completely incandescent. The light pulsing off of her is white, pouring across the battlefield, sharing her anger, her rage, her sorrow. The battle stops, turns aside to stand witness.

The Infinity Stones zip around her like high-speed satellites. Her short hair is flying in the air from the sheer power she's emitting. Peter sees Thanos beyond her. He stares in shock, fear. His gauntlet ruined, broken and warped, blood drips from it.

**"You **_**dare**_** threaten what is ours, Thanos of Titan."**

Piper is there, and Peter cannot move. He can't change what is about it take place. He can feel her anger, her rage, her pain, all the emotions she's ever tried to hide bore down on him, and he _can not move_.

She walks forward, her voice demanding and powerful, layered with so many others. All howling and snarling, harsh, sibilant, stoic, seething, all of them so undeniably hers.

**"You, destroyer, conqueror. You who call for the death of worlds, who warps and destroys all you set your eyes upon. You who **_**dare**_** use our power, come to our world, threaten our people. You dare give us demands, and assume we shall **_**submit**_**!" **

Thanos pales, and steps back. He speaks with a whisper.

"What are you?"

**"We are our self. We are Shikako, we are Renee, we are Tabitha, Nukka, Marguerite, Sarah, Umbra, Suiko, Madeline. We are she and so much more. We are the soul that never rests. We are she who fought a god and won his power. We are human. We are the goddess who gave up godhood to return to humanity. We are Time, Space, Reality, Power, Mind, Soul. We are Piper, **_**twinsisterpartnerbestfriend**_**. We are all of these and you have made us whole.**

Peter sees the tension in her back, her shoulders, and her fists, as she stands strong with her legs apart, protective, angry.

**"We do not thank you for it. Now tell us Thanos. Why should we grant you mercy, you who grants mercy to none."**

The giant, the alien steps back again, weaker, the blood drained from his face.

"I wished only to restore the balance."

Peter hears her snort in condescension as she stalks forward, as if this guy was just some idiot who'd said that the world would be a better place if women would just stay home in their 'rightful' place.

**"Balance. Yes, we know of you, balancer. A false god lusting for powers you don't understand. You who weigh your balance with the weight of the dead, who grease the cogs of your conquest with the blood of innocents, you who despise life, yet claims to wish to restore it. You who sow death and destruction, sorrow and despair everywhere you lay your eyes. You who break the life of children. Who create life, yet stifle it, brutalize it, give them no life at all, only pain, death, violence and war. You who so easily believe that death is the key. You who extorted the power to hold us with the blood of Nidavellir. You who sacrificed that you held dearest at the behest of a bitter shade. We know what you've done. We see and that angers us."**

Piper stops only a couple of yards from Thanos, she waves her hand and the stones flash. Peter sees a body sprawled upon the grass. Her skin green, neck bent at an unnatural angle, snow caught in her hair.

**"You who take children from their homes, from families you've murdered, and make them your own. Make them your weapons. I've known men like you, Thanos. Do you see her, Thanos. Gamorra of Zen-Whoberi, the child who escaped you, who you loved as one of own. Who found Soul, then fled from you, finding the family you never gave her. The family you stole her from, who stood against you. Do you see them?"**

The stones flashed again, Peter saw a group materialize outside of her barrier, saw them see what was inside the barrier and how some of them began beating upon it. He saw Mr. Stark, but he looked back to his sister.

**"They who carried our Power, united and as one, yet did not die. The magician who bargained with a primordial yet came out the better, holding our Time? They who stood against you when you set your eyes upon Space, taking our Mind. Do you see he who cared for she who held Reality, he of a lost Kingdom, King of those you massacred to acquire Space? Do you see them Thanos. The champions of this world, the heroes of their own stories. Those who stand against you? Those you would crush to retake Mind? Do you remember Xandar, the screams that echoed across the cosmos as you destroyed those who protected Power? Do you see them? They who protect my Life. Look at them Thanos, destroyer of Life. Do you see our champions? Now tell me, why should we grant mercy, usurper! Champion of the false Balance."**

Her aura flared and pressed down upon them all, her freezing rage emanating from her, and Thanos fell, speechless, back unto the ground. Piper straightened as her rage compressed, mixing with the ever-present _sorrowlovepain_. The stones spun faster.

**"For let us tell you, Thanos. There is no Balance. There is life, there is death, and there is all the bits between. You fight for an ideal, apathetic to the suffering you cause, irreverent to the futures you destroy. For that you shall see them. That is your fate, you shall see them. You will stretch across the universe. A lonely god, you who would abandon your humanity, you shall see them all, but you may never touch them. You shall see all that is, all that was, all that ever will ever be. Your armies will be sent away, minds restored, to a planet of their own, to create themselves anew. Xandar shall be restored, the lost children of Asgard brought back to life, Gamorra alive, all who died this day to keep you from us will be brought back, and you will see the fruits of your labors undone. So mote it be, **_**be gone**_**!"**

Piper snapped her fingers, and the world _rippled__,_ Thanos's armies disappearing. Peter watched as Thanos blew away in the wind, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. The barrier fell, Piper with it.

Peter sprinted forward. The light was getting stronger, and he knew if he didn't get to her _now _he would lose her.

"Piper!"

She turned, and Peter saw her face.

She was crying, tears streaming down her face. Her eyes bursting with ever shifting, ever moving color. The Infinity Stones revolving around her, ever faster. Peter ran faster.

**"Peter. We are sorry."**

Peter ran up and grabbed her in a hug. He wouldn't lose her, not here, not now. She was _his_. He felt the tears in his eyes, and he welcomed them.

"I'm not letting you go."

**"We know, but we cannot stay. Thanos stole us. We cannot let it happen again. We must retake our place in the universe."**

"Why?"

**"There once was a girl, she was touched. Touched by divinity, by the life in her world. She lived, and she struggled, living for her precious people. One day she met a god. It was not a nice god. He was powerful, warping the world with the prayers of its followers. It was a being of concept, of pain and suffering, anger and rage. He wished to break into the girl's world, plunge it into chaos. His followers captured the girl, desiring to use her as the final sacrifice to bring their lord into their realm. As the cultists prepared her as the final sacrifice, they connected her to their god. Opening her mind to him, but the girl was canny, understanding of the ways of gods. For where the other can affect the one, so the one can affect the other. So she sent them away, away from her world, far from the people she wished to protect. She brought them to a new world, one of nothing, and sapped him of his power. For what is a being of concept without the concept to give it power? So she stole it, consumed him, consumed his power until there was nothing left. Nothing but her. Thus did the girl become a god.**

**"****But she grew lonely, for in the heart she was not a god, despite her physical form having burned away. She wished to live again, to walk the earth, to live among others, but she could not. For she was not human, she could not live as humans once did. So she thought to herself. If she split herself, stripped herself of her power, leaving only her mortal soul, perhaps she might yet again live. So she gathered herself, and **_**split**_**, thus the universe was created. So did the goddess become a girl.**

**"****The power of the Split launched the goddess's soul across dimensions, across worlds, she was reborn. But though she was human, she was not truly so, she heard the song of the stars. She remembered her life, her life before being a goddess, she died, was reborn countless times, always remembering her lives before. So she lived, so she died, so she laughed and cried, holding on to what she had, for however long it would last. Until she died and was once again reborn, in the world she had created. She lived, and the stars sang, rejoicing Life returning to the universe. She lived, until one day a man came, he gathered her power, and he threatened what she held most dear. So did the goddess retake her power."**

Peter listened and held on tighter. His tears mingled with hers.

"Then let it go. You don't need it anymore."

**"It is my power, it is my responsibility."**

_'With great power comes great responsibility.'_

His credo, the words Uncle Ben told him, the words that had inspired him to become Spider-man. Of course she would use it against him. She never played fair. But he still wouldn't let her go. The Infinity Stones took care of themselves for trillions upon trillions of years, they didn't need her. He did.

**"We can hear you, Peter."**

"Good. Because you've got a responsibility to us too, to me, Aunt May, Uncle Ben, Ned, MJ. How do you think they'll feel if you leave? If we leave, because I'm not letting you go, never."

He feels something _click, _he pulls. Piper freezes.

**"You would bind yourself to me? Your soul, your eternity? You would sentence yourself to be with me forever?!"**

He feels the hysterical laughter threatening to bubble out, trying to drown out the terror. Because he remember a day, a day where he had almost been too late, and he'd found her upon the edge of the top of the apartment building, eyes distant and unseeing, sitting as she'd swung her feet and sang of the world. Feeling that connection almost snap, because he'd been too _busy_, with other people, other things. Never again.

"Yeah, I mean, you're my sister, my twin. I'm hopeless without you, and you? It sounds lonely, eternity forever alone. I'm not going to leave you, never."

He pulls, the light dims. The stones slow around them.

**"You mean that?"**

Yes, he does. His heart breaks at the sheer hope and desperation in her voice. How long has it been for her? How long has it been since she's held on to someone properly. Let out all her secrets, her hopes, dreams. She may be Life, but when did she last start to _live_?

"Yeah, I don't care if you come back, or decide to go all goddess. Your my twin, where you go, I do too."

The stones slow, Peter pulls her closer.

**"Okay, I guess we'll trust the universe after all."**

The stones stop, they stop, and fly out to the world.

"Thank you."

The last thing Peter remembers before he passes out is shouting, but he surrenders into the bliss of unconsciousness.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Marvel, nor am I the author of Dreaming of Sunshine. I am but a simple fanfiction author that builds off of other people ideas because I find it interesting.

Stephen Strange watched darkly satisfied as the Mad Titan walked to his death. The time had been bought; they didn't need to hold him off any longer. It had cost the Time Stone, but now all six Infinity Stones were exactly where they needed to be. Lost the battle, but the war was won. The bargain was made.

"Why did you do that."

And there was Stark, the king of chance. Who managed to find the right people, at the right time. A lynchpin, in other timelines, other worlds, he may have been a large part of their only chance. But here, here he was the protector, the unwitting Merlin to the King of Camelot. And he was talking...

"Do what?"

Stark grimaced as he replied, trying his best not to aggravate his injuries.

"Don't play games with me, Strange. We both know that was wildly out of character. I don't like you, you don't like me. It's a mutual agreement. So why the hell did you trade the Time Stone for my life. I thought we were buying time."

"We did. We bought all the time we needed, you didn't need to die for Thanos to get the Stone. Now we just have to wait for the fireworks. We should probably make sure all those Guardians are alive."

Stephen attempted to sit up as a blue skinned woman stepped out from the rubble.

"They are, they're not that easy to kill. Not even the new one. What do you mean, buying time? Shouldn't you have been keeping the Stone from Thanos at any cost."

Ah, the cyborg, one of Thanos's bloody brood if he remembers correctly, the harbinger of bad news.

"Thanos was always going to get the Time Stone, it didn't matter what we did or where we ran, he was always going to get it. It wasn't for us that we were buying time for."

"Then for what were we buying time for?"

Peter Quill, the man who could have withstood the touch of the Time Stone and trapped them in an ever worsening time loop. Always to try and save all of his family, but never to succeed.

"For the seventh."

"What?"

The cybernetic woman scoffed as the others looked on in confusion. Stark's attention riveted down on him

"Do not joke with us, sorcerer. The seventh Infinity Stone is a myth. A story for children. It does not exist, Thanos made sure of it. There is no seventh stone of Life."

Yes, he was familiar with the myth in question. After the confrontation with Dormammu and his elevation to Earth's Sorcerer Supreme he made it a goal to learn as much about the Infinity Stones as possible after the revelation that the Eye of Agamotto was the casing for one of these stones. He had searched through the records for every mention of them. Their whereabouts, their creation, (it had come as a chilling shock that 2, likely 3, others had already been on or found their way onto Earth within the last decade), anything that he could get his hands on. Eventually he found what seemed to be a mythology text forgotten in the far back of the Library in the New York Sanctum. It had referred to a mysterious '7th stone' that was supposedly the cause of all life in the universe. He had asked Wong about the story and its validity. However, the man had waved him off, telling Stephen it had been written by an ancient sorcerer who had gone mad from meditating upon the Eye of Agamotto too long. But considering it had last been checked out by the Ancient One only 16 years prior, Stephen had never completely believed his claims. Now though, he knew exactly what it had been referring too.

"A seventh Infinity Stone, Strange, you said nothing about a seventh Infinity Stone."

"You already know what we're talking about, Stark. You've already got this half-way figured out. Don't insult me by acting otherwise."

The man went quiet. Stark was intelligent, Stephen knew the inventor already had all the pieces. The man just had to put them together.

"Piper."

The girl of the hour, or goddess if one wants to think that way. Piper Parker, one of Stark's protégés, one half of the Spider Duo, the seventh piece, Life, Heart, the one who will save them all.

Strange had met the girl once. Once before this day began, before Thanos set his eyes upon the Infinity Stones in earnest. It had been shortly after he permanently moved into the New York Sanctum. He'd been studying in his office when he felt someone bypass the wards upon the Sanctum, someone with enormous magical potential. He'd moved into the front hall immediately. Only to find a teenaged girl in jeans and a shabby sweatshirt standing casually inside the front door. She had been looking straight at him, eyes slightly unfocused and mildly glassy. He'd been about to ask if she required medical attention when she spoke.

_"Thank you for expelling Jashin's echo, steward of Time. I hope that someday I may repay that debt."_

She walked out right after, and Stephen never saw her again. Not until she showed up again in a red and blue spider costume, fighting against Thanos's men. He never would have guessed what she ended up being.

"Who is this 'Piper'? A musician? What good is a musician against Thanos? Do they play terrible music?"

Drax the Destroyer, the avenger of a family long buried.

"No, Anthrax. or whatever your name is, Piper is a _sixteen-year-old girl _who shouldn't be anywhere _near_ Thanos. It's entirely too dangerous."

"By the time I was sixteen, I had a kill count of hundreds."

"Did I ask you, little miss cyborg?"

"Is she your daughter?"

Mantis, the empath.

"No- What makes you say that? She's my protégé, one of them at least."

"She holds the Mind Stone. She's fighting Thanos as we speak."

That shuts them up, at least momentarily. However, Nebula was not to be silenced long.

"And why should this Terran girl succeed where all of us have failed. You are not a powerful species."

Strange knows that they won't understand, not until they see her, blinding as she turns Thanos to dust. But that doesn't make him less irritated as Quill decides to take up the argument.

"I should be offended on my home planet's defense, but she's right. I could only hold an Infinity Stone and survive because my shitty excuse of a biological father was a Celestial, and even then I would have died if it weren't for all of- all of us."

"Because he threatens the one thing she cares about more that anything else. And she makes him pay for it."

Stark jerks like he's been struck by a bolt of lightning, before swearing incoherently,

"Dammit, We need to get back there now! Can you open one of your magic circles?"

"No, but we'll be there soon enough."

For now, he'll just wait and meditate. Everything is how it should be.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Marvel, nor am I the author of Dreaming of Sunshine. I am but a simple fanfiction author that builds off of other people ideas because I find it interesting.

"Ancestors preserve us."

Watching the scene before his eyes, T'challa couldn't help but agree with the statement. He is the King of Wakanda, the Black Panther, follower of the goddess Bast, but this, this is something far greater than he had in mind when he granted Steve Rogers request.

Far, far greater.

The legends of Wakanda are many and varied. T'challa has spent his life learning them. Tales of gods, Bast, Sobek, Sekmet, Hanuman; of mortals, the Black Panther, the tribes of Wakanda, of colonizers and defenders; of the gods' Gift, Vibranium; tales of tricksters and demons, heroes and villians; but none of these have prepared him for this, for the coming of one. For an entity so powerful that her mere presence stops a war, who _feels _so greatly that all cannot help but stop, and watch. T'challa finds himself teetering upon the edge of awe, and terror as he watches a goddess rise. Rise in the form of a girl no older than Shuri.

**"You **_**dare**_** threaten what is ours, Thanos of Titan."**

He sees her within the shield she has constructed, now glowing white, gleaming with all the colors of the rainbow. She stands, swathed in white light, surrounded by comets, radiating it like a star who had come down from the heavens above, filled with imperious purpose. She speaks with her voices, and displays her displeasure for the world to see. She walks forward, towards the one who has angered her. However, T'challa cannot find it in himself to pity him, he who has brought war to Earth, to Wakanda.

**"You, destroyer, conqueror. You who call for the death of worlds, who warps and destroys all you set your eyes upon. You who **_**dare**_** use our power, come to our world, threaten our people. You dare give us demands, and assume we shall **_**submit**_**!" **

The heretic pales, stepping back from her, seeing the error of his ways perhaps? But it will not save him. He dared touch that which belonged to divinity, without her approval, without blessing. For that, his punishment will not be kind.

The fool who dared challenge a god speaks, she answers. She blazes, her power excluding from her, gravitating around her, a declaration of her power.

**"We are our self. We are Shikako, we are Renee, we are Tabitha, Nukka, Marguerite, Sarah, Umbra, Suiko, Madeline. We are she and so much more. We are the soul that never rests. We are she who fought a god and won his power. We are human. We are the goddess who gave up godhood to return to humanity. We are Time, Space, Reality, Power, Mind, Soul. We are Piper, **_**twinsisterpartnerbestfriend**_**. We are all of these and you have made us whole.**

**"We do not thank you for it. Now tell us Thanos. Why should we grant you mercy, you who grants mercy to none."**

T'challa hears, but he does not understand. A god who is not a god, a human beyond the constraints of humanity... it speaks of heresy, her words do. There are gods, and there are humans, those blessed by the gods, there are even those from beyond this world. She speaks of impossibilities, yet her words carry the ring of truth. Because he knows that she is a god, but he has seen of her humanity, of the girl who came before. He hears her bid the heretic speak, to speak his case. T'challa sees her eyes, and he feels her emotions as clearly as the light she creates. There is no escape for him. For the mortal who dared try to usurp a god, but he shall have his trial.

"I wished only to restore the balance."

His words echo across the battlefield for all to hear. The Spider, Arachna, the goddess who is a girl, scoffs at the warlord's words.

**"Balance. Yes, we know of you, balancer. A false god lusting for powers you don't understand. You who weigh your balance with the weight of the dead, who grease the cogs of your conquest with the blood of innocents, you who despise life, yet claims to wish to restore it. You who sow death and destruction, sorrow and despair everywhere you lay your eyes. You who break the life of children. Who create life, yet stifle it, brutalize it, give them no life at all, only pain, death, violence and war. You who so easily believe that death is the key. You who extorted the power to hold us with the blood of Nidavellir. You who sacrificed that you held dearest at the behest of a bitter shade. We know what you've done. We see and that angers us."**

T'challa watches as she walks towards the warmonger. His claws flexing in sympathetic rage, his own familiar anger and sorrow resonating with her own. For those who claimed good intentions while setting the world aflame with the fires of their own self-righteousness. Of blood that could have been spilled, of blood that had to be, and blood that didn't. She stops, and a frost-covered corpse lays upon the ground between her and the warlord with a wave of her hand, a humanoid with green skin.

**"You who take children from their homes, from families you've murdered, and make them your own. Make them your weapons. I've known men like you, Thanos. Do you see her, Thanos. Gamorra of Zen-Whoberi, the child who escaped you, who you loved as one of own. Who found Soul, then fled from you, finding the family you never gave her. The family you stole her from, who stood against you. Do you see them?**

T'challa sees from the corner of his eye as others appear, outside of her barriers. Others who upon seeing those inside the barrier beat upon it, calling out the name of the one on the ground. He notes Stark staring at Piper, whispering a name, a sorcerer who watches in silence. T'challa focuses back on Piper, the girl who is a goddess, and he listens.

**"They who carried our Power, united and as one, yet did not die. The magician who bargained with a primordial yet came out the better, holding our Time? They who stood against you when you set your eyes upon Space, taking our Mind. Do you see he who cared for she who held Reality, he of a lost Kingdom, King of those you massacred to acquire Space? Do you see them Thanos. The champions of this world, the heroes of their own stories. Those who stand against you? Those you would crush to retake Mind? Do you remember Xandar, the screams that echoed across the cosmos as you destroyed those who protected Power? Do you see them? They who protect my Life. Look at them Thanos, destroyer of Life. Do you see our champions? Now tell me, why should we grant mercy, usurper! Champion of the false Balance."**

Her power flares, and the world seems to freeze. A giant falls to a girl. The comets spin faster and faster. T'challa feels like he can hardly stand. Her power presses down upon them all. The verdict has been made. Her eyes burn with the power of a million galaxies. A decree to enact upon the universe. She raises her hand.

**"For let us tell you, Thanos. There is no Balance. There is life, there is death, and there are all the bits between. You fight for an ideal, apathetic to the suffering you cause, irreverent to the futures you destroy. For that you shall see them. That is your fate, you shall see them. You will stretch across the universe. A lonely god, you who would abandon your humanity, you shall see them all, but you may never touch them. You shall see all that is, all that was, and all that ever will ever be. Your armies will be sent away, minds restored, to a planet of their own, to create themselves anew. Xandar shall be restored, the lost children of Asgard brought back to life, Gamorra alive, all who died this day to keep you from us will be brought back, and you will see the fruits of your labors undone. So mote it be, **_**be gone**_**!"**

Her fingers click with a loud _*snap*_ and T'challa sees her will be done. The warlord, the heretic, dissolves into nothing, blowing away upon the wind. The King of Wakanda watches in awe as the army of Thanos disappears, with gratitude as the bodies of his fallen warriors unbend, heal, gasping back into the world of the living. He hears shouts, and his eyes snap back to her. Her barrier is gone, but she has fallen to her knees. Her power pulses around her more powerfully than ever. Tears fall from her eyes, wet, messy, _human_ tears.

"Piper."

The boy, the twin of the girl who is a goddess, rushes towards her. She turns to him.

**"Peter, we are sorry."**

The boy runs faster, and grabs his sister in a hug.

"I'm not letting you go."

T'challa watches in alarm. He finds himself running towards the twins himself as another barrier forms, entrapping the two inside. He's not the only one. The Avengers run forward as well as the new group sprints to the groaning alien woman lying upon the grass.

**"We know, but we cannot stay. Thanos stole us. We cannot let it happen again. We must retake our place in the universe."**

T'challa feels as the intensity of her emotions lowers, her connection to them inhibited by the new shield she has put in place. As the soul-crushing weight of duty, of guilt and pain fades till T'challa can no longer feel it.

"Why?"

So T'challa hears a story, a story he commits to memory, even as the others around him listen. The story of a girl who became a goddess to save her world. Who broke the rules of conventional and the boundaries between mortality and godhood. Who challenged a god and made his power her own. Of a lonely god so far beyond humanity she went mad, and broke herself to reclaim her humanity. Of a girl who heard the starsong, who lived and lived, without the rest of true death. Living and dying until she reached the world she created with her self-destruction and the world rejoiced. Who lived her human life, until the warlord tried to take her power as his own, and threatened they who the girl cared for the most. Of her coming, of her reclamation of power.

T'challa knew then she could not stay. He saw the burning beneath her skin, the Infinity Stones darting and spinning around her. No mortal body could ever hold that much power for long. But the boy who was twin to a goddess clung to her tighter. His tears mixed with hers and he bid her stay, that she would release her power once again to the universe. And she listened.

He reminded the goddess of her humanity, of the connections between people. He spoke, and he bound himself to her. The stars stopping for even a moment. For even in his humanity, he would never let her leave him behind.

She listened and cried. Then sent her powers out into the cosmos, to remain master less and free.

The barrier fell once again. And the two children fell to sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Marvel, or am I the author of Dreaming of Sunshine. I am but a simple fanfiction author that builds off of other people ideas because I find it interesting.

Natasha Romanoff, the woman known as the Black Widow, is a spy; a top-tier espionage agent with more training and a higher kill count than anyone is comfortable thinking about. It isn't something she can quit, that she can simply stop doing. It's instinctual at this point, even when among friends she finds herself assessing them, their likes, their desires, weak points, anything she can use against them. She doesn't trust easy, and always prepares contingencies just in case. But she's rarely wrong. She's met hundreds of people, played them, tricked them, and killed them. There are very few sides of human nature that she hasn't seen. But something about the Spider Twins had always rubbed her as off.

It hadn't even started during the Sokovia Accords incident. It started before, when they were patrolling streets in New York with no larger influence. It shouldn't be surprising that larger presences had been keeping an eye on them. They were new, partners, one of which who had obvious enhanced abilities, the other who did not. They were good, smart, and if the reports had not exaggerated, very skilled, an eyewitness report stating that one of them had taken down a small group of would-be rapists without much trouble. They weren't just good, they were _too_ good. Too good to simply be civilians who decided to go out in costumes and fight crime.

The super-powered 'Spider-man' was suspected to be an Inhuman, but analysts were unsure due to the relatively tame manifestation of his powers. He swung around the city 'discouraging' petty crimes, helping and saving other citizens, here one moment and gone the next. Often leaving webbing in his wake. The other, dubbed Arachna by the people on the streets, was actually the more worrisome of the two despite, (or perhaps because of), the fact she had no obvious powers. While the sightings of her were fewer, the reports painted her to be far more pragmatic and skilled than her counterpart. She was the one who walked the streets, hiding in alleyways, saving the unwary, often freeing victims of her partner's over-zealous attitude, showing up at his back when he got into fights, often taking down just as many as him. She also had an uncanny knack for avoiding cameras, something her partner didn't seem to care all that much about if the YouTube videos were anything to go off of.

They had still been relatively obscure before Stark thrust them into the limelight by sponsoring them. Known to nearly anyone who'd care to look, but in a world with the Avengers and the far more controversial 'Defenders', they were just two, free-lancer, small-time heroes with interesting tech and running motor mouths. Frightening competent for a couple of suspected teenagers, but still small fry in the scheme of things. But then Steve went rogue, and Stark needed people to fill the ranks. People with enough firepower to rival Captain America and the Winter Soldier.

Natasha didn't meet the twins any sooner than anyone else there. So she was just as surprised when Spiderman stole Cap's shield and Arachna snipe-webbed the Soldier as everyone else, she just hid it better. Rogers and Barnes almost didn't make it to the plane. Arachna stayed out of the way, webbing the opposition, never directly interfering with the main fight until her brother needed more direct assistance. After that the two were stuck like glue, fighting together like two parts of a well-oiled machine. Natasha watched the tapes afterwards, they had been beating Steve until his back-up arrived in the form of Scarlet Witch. From there on Wanda established herself as the bigger threat, allowing Cap to slip away. And even though Natasha knows that the young woman had been holding back, the twins had nearly pinned her to the ground before she'd torn the webbing apart and blasted herself away away. And that... is worrying coming from a couple of kids who had previously been taking down street thugs.

When she went on the run, retreating to old, familiar habits of disguises and safe houses, she couldn't help but wonder just how they came across those abilities. The way they fought, it was efficient, familiar, especially in the girl. She moved effortlessly, with the economy of movement that comes from knowing exactly what your body can do, your limits, your strengths. She fought smart, targeting weaknesses, assessing threats and dealing with them accordingly. Her partner wasn't quite at that level, but that was to be expected, gaining augmented abilities will always throw your balance off. But even he moved confidently, with a battle awareness that allowed him to anticipate threats before they happened. And neither of them fought clean, literally or metaphorically, Natasha couldn't see any one distinct discipline in the way they fought. There were elements, of course, a move from one, a counter from another, but it was a hodgepodge of moves from many different styles that flowed near seamlessly together in their dance. The girl was easily the more skilled of the two, and even as she fought, Natasha had gotten the distinct impression that she had been holding back. Missed chances, opportunities that, if she had been aiming to kill, or even seriously injure, she could have easily exploited. The boy (because he was, no adult calls The Empire Strikes Back 'that really old movie), was not at that level. He had training, that was obvious, but not the kind that leaves your opponents dead on the ground.

(She wondered if Tony had ever realized the parallels. That Steve had absconded with half the team, and Stark had just up and replaced him with the newer model. A kid with higher augmented abilities than Steve, and a sniper that fought like an assassin. A new Captain America and Winter Soldier.)

When she had met up with Steve, she'd asked his opinion on the subject. He'd come to some of the same confusing conclusions she had. They just didn't make _sense_. And Stark had taken the two under his wing, so they couldn't just go and find out. Someone had trained them, that was all too clear, maybe even multiple someones. But why train one twin in the more deadly arts and not the other? Were they even twins? They certainly acted like it, but even that could be faked, or the girl could have been adopted. If so, did she teach him? Was HYDRA involved, Red Room?

There were too many questions and not enough answers. They couldn't go back and investigate without Tony noticing, so they just had to hope the billionaire knew what he was doing. Wanda didn't have many answers either, but she admitted that they seemed to have some sort of resistance to her abilities, particularly Arachna. That Arachna, during her ramblings about the power of willpower and belief, dispelled Wanda's mental hold upon the twins. Something that _no one_, not even Vision, had ever managed to do without outside interference. Throwing the question of whether or not she has powers into play.

But they had to go into hiding, so the conversation about the twins had to wait. Natasha gave Wanda the use of one of her safe houses. She eventually heard from Steve that Vision often met up with Wanda, but never made the time to visit.

Now, looking over at the twins laying unconscious on Wakandan hospital beds, she wonders if maybe she should have. After this day, with war, damnation and world-view breaking revelations, a little warning would have been nice.

She heard the familiar footsteps far before she felt the hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, Nat, it's time for the meeting."

Looks like it was time to finally get those answers. Natasha Romanoff shrugged off the hand as she turned to face the man once titled Captain America.

"Thanks, Steve. T'challa's gotten all the kingdom's affairs in order?"

"All the immediate ones. He's set up a conference room down the hall. Everyone directly involved in this is going be there, even the 'Guardians of the Galaxy' group."

"Thor said something about his people coming to Earth?"

"Still in space, Thor said that he's left them in 'questionable, but alright' hands. He can wait until we get this figured out."

"Vision?"

"He's up, looks a bit different. But he's still himself from what I can tell."

"And Bucky?"

"T'challa has him working out some security issues with the Dora Milaje. He won't be coming."

"We better get moving then."

A/N: To the single reviewer who decided to be decidedly unhelpful and annoying, I'm fully aware this isn't a grand piece of literature. This is built off of a lot of stuff on the forums that I don't have permission to post. If you don't have any helpful criticism to dish out, don't comment.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Marvel, or am I the author of Dreaming of Sunshine. I am but a simple fanfiction author that builds off of other people ideas because I find it interesting.

Looking into the mirror, Vision wonders if this is what it is like to see one's self and not to know who looks back. He is an android capable of changing his appearance at will, yet he looks at himself, and wonders, just who he is? Logically, he knows the mirror is not to blame. It is merely a reflective surface that bounced back the light shown upon it. He could easily explain how the process works, but right now, it felt like a judge displaying uncomfortable truths.

For he had changed, Vision could feel it. Not physically, his systems worked just as efficiently as they had previous to the Mind Stone's extraction, but mentally... he wasn't the same. Because now, the mirror wasn't just a mirror, an object that caused the reflection of photons to allow one to view one's appearance. It was _more_, a displayer of truths, a reflection, a world that exists, yet does not. It was _abstract_. He felt like child, seeing the world for the first time. There was so much to do, so much he had yet to see, so many things he _didn't know_...

And that concerned him; he would go so far as to say it scared him. For as much as he loved, cared for and appreciated life, he still was... He _had been_ a very logical being. Now, he had impulses, desires that he had never had before, that had never occurred to him. He wanted to see the stars, feel their burn upon his vibranium skin. Fly into a black hole and see the other side. Speak to the shadows, listen to the breath of the Earth. Things he had dismissed as illogical human fancy now seemed bright and interesting and so _possible_.

And that disturbs him... That now, he is not the Vision he was. That there was somehow so much _more_, than what he had first understood; than what he _knew_ to be fact. Ultron had once told him that humanity, _life_, would not, could not last. Back then he had agreed, but now, now? He could only wonder, how could they _not_? It is there, everywhere, ever since he had reawakened he could see it, feel it. A whisper in the back of his mind, the lights inbetween what could be and is. It was there, always and forever, life would continue to build, survive, exist, _live_. He _understood_ why Wanda could always overpower him, how she always wrest the Mind Stone free of his control. It was because of that Spark, that powerful, undefinable will, her _life_. And before, he had never been able to understand it. His mind has been opened to possibilities that he had only glimpsed through Wanda, the Mind Stone, things he had only just begun to understand.

And he doesn't know how to deal with it. All this, he doesn't know how. Is this how it feels? To live, to live in the moment, just trying to deal with what life throws at you, one day at a time? If so, he doesn't know how humans deal with it. Morals were no longer straight. His data was skewed. He can feel his mind simmering, itching at the thought of these questions, these concepts. But he can't let himself surrender to the temptation, because there are more important things to worry about.

He didn't expect to survive the day. Ever since the Mind Stone had started calling out, ever since the Black Order came to them, to steal the Mind Stone, he had felt a deep sense of foreboding. That no matter what they may do, whatever they try to do, the end result would always be the same, with Vision dead on the ground, the Mind Stone torn from his forehead... But that didn't happen. Because of a girl who was so much more than anyone had known.

Vision had always known the spider-themed heroine known as Arachna was unique. She drew the Mind Stone like the iron needle of a compass, made it _sing_ in a way he still did not understand. It wasn't like the deep thrumming, the resonation, it held in Wanda's presence. It had been a pull, a sort of incomprehensible longing that he had never felt from it before. He had been curious about it, about the girl who drew the Mind Stone. But Mr. Stark had asked him to set the matter aside, and Vision had acquiesced. However, that did not mean Vision had forgotten. He could feel it, the pull, it tugged, quietly, silently, hardly noticeable, but it was always there. He ran all the data, tried to understand just how a girl could invoke such a response from the Mind Stone, but Mr. Stark had hidden all but her most mundane files. Not that Vision couldn't have found them, but he trusted that his co-creator had good reason to do so.

So he had put the matter aside, focusing on the Avengers, the world, repairing his fractured relationship with Wanda. Because clearly, the world wasn't as binary as he had though, and the mystery could wait, the world could not, Wanda could not. If he had been capable of forgetting, he likely would have forgotten about the strange girl that had rambled as often as she spoke plainly. So it was for two years. Of course he periodically got updates on the Spiders' progress, but the mystery was laid to rest.

Then the Black Order came for the Mind Stone, and the mystery got shoved into the forefront. The Mind Stone seemed to buzz with anticipation as he was half-carried into the Avengers Headquarters, pin-pointing the girl's direction. But he pushed the feeling away, so to concentrate on the interactions going on in front of him, and to the information being given. Even so, the feeling did not simply go away, it only intensified, the pull growing stronger and stronger, reaching a crescendo as the Spider Twins finally entered the room a few minutes after Banner.

That moment, Vision knew that the twins had to come on this mission, come with them to Wakanda. Where he might live, or die. So he argued on their behalf. Because whatever would happen, the Mind Stone wanted her to come, so Vision made it so.

Wakanda was a beautiful place, and given better circumstances, Vision was sure he would have genuinely enjoyed himself there. But he was injured and bringing war upon this glorious nation, he couldn't find it inside himself to feel the awe this place surely deserved. He spent the next few hours in a haze, shutting down all unnecessary functions so to streamline the procedure. The twins remained inside the lab with Wanda, the princess, and him, watching and waiting, speaking in low tones of nonsensical things. But the battle began, and Shuri continued to work upon removing the Mind Stone. It wasn't long after that that the Mind Stone's music, its pull, came to its peak, and Vision passed out. He doesn't remember anything past that until he rebooted after the battle was over and done.

And as he looks back at the mirror, he can see her final gift, feel the changes it had wrought upon. For there was a stone, gleaming like a black sun, golden on the surface, shadowed within, inset upon his forehead.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Marvel, or am I the author of Dreaming of Sunshine. I am but a simple fanfiction author that builds off of other people ideas because I find it interesting.

Allowing the Time Stone to snap into place, Thanos feels the rush of energy flood through the Infinity Gauntlet's mental feedback system, and smiles.

"One to go."

One more until his crusade was complete, until he could restore Balance to the cosmos. The last Infinity Stone, the Mind Stone, the one he had carried ever since the devastation of Titan, that he lost to the Trickster, Loki, was the final piece to allow him to save the universe, to slice this universe's population in half. He was not far from his goal.

A blaster shot hits the Gauntlet, but it's useless. The Infinity Gauntlet was forged in the fires of Nidavellir, by the Dwarf King, Eitri and his kinsman, their greatest and final achievement, a weapon able to harness the powers of Creation. It would not be damaged by a mere blaster bolt. His daughter's lover flies toward him, firing at him with the fury of grief, and Thanos clenches his fist, activating the aspect of Space. He will leave them, these 'Guardians', for his fallen daughter had cared for them. However, the Balance will decide their fate. So he will leave Stark and the former guardian of the Time Stone, there was nothing they could do to stop him. The portal opened around him, and Thanos willed it to take him to Terra, to the Mind Stone.

The portal opens, and he steps out upon a wide, open battlefield. He smells the blood, the fire, the disturbance upon the once peaceful land and walks forward. He hears the Terrans, panicking upon his appearance, at the sight of the Gauntlet upon his hand. But most importantly, he can feel the rising power, the resonation of the six Infinity Stones gathered in one place, their pull. He looks forward, towards where the Mind Stone lays, and feels only grim satisfaction. They have handed him the Mind Stone on a silver platter. For standing in front of him, there stands a child, a Terran, and she is burning. Another poor soul who has succumbed to the power of the Infinity Stones, to the Mind Stone sitting upon her palm.

She stands confident and powerful, golden light surrounding her in a testament to the Mind Stone's power, her eyes blazing bright yellow. He even recognizes the girl, she's one of Stark's little protégés, garbed in a suit befitting of her moniker, 'Arachna'. He remembers her dossier from his spies' reports of Terra. But it is too late for her, for the Mind Stone has already taken her as a conduit, it would not be long before she turns to ash. He watches, bored, as Maximoff, the one who derives her power from the Mind Stone, turns her powers upon the girl. Thanos walks forward, as others try in vain to stop him.

He feels the exact moment the board changes. The Mind Stone's power pulses, sending out a telekinetic wave that ripples across the battlefield. Every living being is sent flying back, away from the epicenter. He sees she flicks her hand and a golden barrier erects around the two of them, gleaming with the power she possesses. Now, there is only Thanos, and the girl. She, blazing, burning with the power she holds, a single Infinity held in her palm. And he, Thanos, the conqueror of worlds, with the power of five Infinity Stones harnessed by the Gauntlet upon his hand.

"Will you submit?"

The light around the girl who was once Piper Parker only intensifies, lashing and solidifying around her.

_"I'll never surrender to you, Thanos of Titan."_

She sends a large blast of concentrated energy towards him, and Thanos enters an impossible battle.

Thanos fights, and finds himself fighting for his life. He fights against an impossibility, against a girl who does not turn to ashes. Thanos had the Mind Stone in his possession for decades, he has studied it extensively. He knows its capabilities, its powers. He knows exactly how much of the Mind Stone's power it takes before a living being disintegrates. But this girl, this child, has not. He fights her, and finds his place in the world threatened by a child. She channels the Mind Stone, and is _challenging_ him.

It should be impossible, he possesses five of the most powerful objects in the known world, yet he cannot overpower one mentally-disabled girl, one Infinity Stone. It _enrages_ him. She fights like one of his own children, powerful, deadly, with no regret, no remorse. She breaks the realm of possibility with the ease of the High Sorcerers of Titan once had. She speaks, and secrets cross her tongue, lecturing him, taunting him. She screams and calls him murderer, false god. She whispers, and he feels the Infinity Stones respond to her will.

He closes his fist and calls upon Time, Space, Power, Reality, Soul. The Gauntlet has limits; he can only call upon one aspect at a time while it remains incomplete, without the Mind to direct the others, to link him fully to the Stones. But he can use the five aspects in whatever way he sees fit, to form isolated time loops, manipulate space to his advantage, imbue his self with power, change reality, call upon the souls that have fallen. But nothing works, she evades his strikes, collectivizes her consciousness, sneak attacks, predicts his movements, influences his realities, faces the fallen with nothing but a mournful howl of fury. He can't touch her, and she has him floundering.

She stops for but a moment, staving off a blast of power with a flicker of her fingers, spinning, redirecting the power around her and sending it flying back towards him. He clenches his fist, activating Reality, the beam converts into simple light. She floats in place, her eyes flare brighter as she screams at him in righteous judgment.

_"Blood seeps into every step you make, you may possess the stars, but you will never touch them. They reject your presence, the universe screams of your cruelty. You'll never find a place, Thanos of Titan. You bring death to all you touch. Just as you watched your people tear themselves apart. You are the reason Titan died, usurper, herald of death. You did not find a better way, they asked for your aid, but you spoke to them only of death. Too caught up in your people's traditions to look elsewhere._

_"You may not have pulled the trigger, Thanos, but you never considered a better way. You were complicit, how long did you mourn before looting their homes? You bathe yourself in pain, garbed with the suffering of those beneath you. You claim to love, yet destroy the things care about. Tell me, destroyer, what does that make you."_

He froze for but a moment, but it was quickly overcome with rage. For _HOW DARE SHE._ How dare she speak of things of which she knows nothing! How dare she _judge_ him. She _knows_ nothing, is _nothing_. The universe is a disastrous, imbalanced place, he makes it better. For the sake of the whole, many must die. He lives with the aching hole in his heart of his lost people. The knowledge that if only they had listened to him, perhaps Titan would still stand strong. He brings peace to the worlds he balances, once they submit to his rule they become paradises, never to fall to Titan's fate. So he will do for this world. The girl is a child, unknowing, ignorant to the ways of the universe. But he will not stand for it.

Thanos looks away for only a split-second, and he sees the boy. The enhanced, Terran boy is fighting his Outriders outside the barrier, garbed similarly to his twin sister. Thanos raises his right hand, closing the Gauntlet in his left, and calls upon Space. He curls his fingers around the boy's fragile throat. It would be so simple to crush him as he did the Jotunn pretender, but he shall give her one last chance.

"Child. Give me the stone."

The buzz of the Infinity Stones through the Gauntlet's mental feedback turns into a scream. She snarls, like a wild animal, the light around her flickers. Her eyes go white, shattering into the colors of the rainbow.

**"No"**

The scream in his mind roars into a sonic boom, the stones breaking away from the Gauntlet. He looks into her eyes, frozen as the world explodes into white, strangling his scream as his hand erupts in agony, crushed. The weight in his right hand disappears. He closes his eyes, to block it out. But he is bombarded, with anger, rage, grief, sorrow, pain beyond his greatest imagings, and he is frozen. He feels the creepers of fear slip into his mind.

The light subsides, and she _demands_ his attention.

**"You **_**dare**_** threaten what is ours, Thanos of Titan."**

She stands amidst a storm of power, raging light, whipping around her, all six of the Infinity Stones dancing around her with feckless, wild abandon. She speaks with the layered tones of the enthralled. The all speak through her now, her power limitless, infinite. Thanos feels the seed of fear grow. The impossibility walks forward.

**"You, destroyer, conqueror. You who call for the death of worlds, who warps and destroys all you set your eyes upon. You who **_**dare**_** use our power, come to our world, threaten our people. You dare give us demands, and assume we shall **_**submit**_**!"**

He is afraid, he steps back and a question slips out.

"What are you."

She flares ever brighter, not missing a step. Her disgust, her anger grows, blazes to the forefront of his mind.

**"We are our self. We are Shikako, we are Renee, we are Tabitha, Nukka, Marguerite, Sarah, Umbra, Suiko, Madeline. We are she and so much more. We are the soul that never rests. We are she who fought a god and won his power. We are human. We are the goddess who gave up godhood to return to humanity. We are Time, Space, Reality, Power, Mind, Soul. We are Piper, **_**twinsisterpartnerbestfriend**_**. We are all of these and you have made us whole.**

**"We do not thank you for it. Now tell us Thanos. Why should we grant you mercy, you who grants mercy to none."**

His memories bombard him, of every death, every execution, every life he has seen taken. Of the balances he has taken, the prices, the sacrifices, the choices he has made. Choices he does not regret, cannot regret lest they all be for nothing. He feels her rage. He feels her power, hears her words and the final piece clicks. He feels anger of Life, and he retreats further, his voice weak even to his own ears.

"I wished only to restore the Balance."

He feels her disgust, her distain.

**"Balance. Yes, we know of you, balancer. A false god lusting for powers you don't understand. You who weigh your balance with the weight of the dead, who grease the cogs of your conquest with the blood of innocents, you who despise life, yet claims to wish to restore it. You who sow death and destruction, sorrow and despair everywhere you lay your eyes. You who break the life of children. Who create life, yet stifle it, brutalize it, give them no life at all, only pain, death, violence and war. You who so easily believe that death is the key. You who extorted the power to hold us with the blood of Nidavellir. You who sacrificed that you held dearest at the behest of a bitter shade. We know what you've done. We see and that angers us."**

He feels the loss, the lights extinguished; his mind is filled with the images of suffering. She confronts him with it, the blood he has shed, the wars he has waged, the lives he has ended. All in the name of his conquest, all to save the world. She sees them and stops. Life stops, and waves her hand. The Infinity Stones pulse at her behest. Gamorra appears upon the ground between them. His favorite child, broken and frozen upon the grass between them. Just as he left her in the mountains of Vormir, a sacrifice to possess the Soul Stone. A fair bargain.

**"You who take children from their homes, from families you've murdered, and make them your own. Make them your weapons. I've known men like you, Thanos. Do you see her, Thanos. Gamorra of Zen-Whoberi, the child who escaped you, who you loved as one of own. Who found Soul, then fled from you, finding the family you never gave her. The family you stole her from, who stood against you. Do you see them?"**

Her eyes flash in tandem with the Infinity Stones and he does. The fools whom he had left upon the surface of Titan appear outside of the barrier she has created. He sees them, the ones Gamorra calls 'family'; his daughter, Nebula; the Terran cursed with knowledge; and the Terran sorcerer who had given him the Time Stone. The sorcerer looks at him with triumph in his eyes before looking back at Life.

**"They who carried our Power, united and as one, yet did not die. The magician who bargained with a primordial yet came out the better, holding our Time? They who stood against you when you set your eyes upon Space, taking our Mind. Do you see he who cared for she who held Reality, he of a lost Kingdom, King of those you massacred to acquire Space? Do you see them Thanos. The champions of this world, the heroes of their own stories. Those who stand against you? Those you would crush to retake Mind? Do you remember Xandar, the screams that echoed across the cosmos as you destroyed those who protected Power? Do you see them? They who protect my Life. Look at them Thanos, destroyer of Life. Do you see our champions? Now tell me, why should we grant mercy, usurper! Champion of the false Balance."**

Images that are not his own flood his mind. He sees their actions, their achievements. He feels Life's love, her gratitude towards those who protected her power, her world. Thanos falls to his knees, his mind seeming to overflow from the knowledge that fills him. But her feels her ire towards him rise. Her energies burst even further as she raises her hand. Dread weighs down in his stomach. Her decision has been made.

**"For let us tell you, Thanos. There is no Balance. There is life, there is death, and there is all the bits between. You fight for an ideal, apathetic to the suffering you cause, irreverent to the futures you destroy. For that you shall see them. That is your fate, you shall see them. You will stretch across the universe. A lonely god, you who would abandon your humanity, you shall see them all, but you may never touch them. You shall see all that is, all that was, all that ever will ever be. Your armies will be sent away, minds restored, to a planet of their own, to create themselves anew. Xandar shall be restored, the lost children of Asgard brought back to life, Gamorra alive, all who died this day to keep you from us will be brought back, and you will see the fruits of your labors undone. So mote it be, **_**be gone**_**!"**

He had but a moment to understand before she snapped her fingers in cosmic irony, eyes brilliant, cold and unforgiving. His last thoughts burnt into his mind.

'I don't regret it.'


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Marvel, or am I the author of Dreaming of Sunshine. I am but a simple fanfiction author that builds off of other people ideas because I find it interesting.

Looking down at the screen of her phone for the 100th time, May Parker can't help the dread that has been pooling in her stomach ever since she first saw Peter's text hours ago.

_Sorry, Aunt May, we're heading to Wakanda for a little while. Piper's spells have been going crazy. Will call later._

Feeling Ben's hand on her shoulder, May looked up to her husband.

"Don't worry, May. They'll be fine. They're stubborn, and they're smart. They won't let anything happen to eachother."

"You say that, but you're just as worried about them as I am."

Their kids, Peter and Piper, teenagers, high school students, part-time vigilante/superheroes. Who apparently thought that going out and saving the world was more important than their education and their guardians' mental well-being. She's already gotten a call from the school that apparently her kids disappeared during a school field trip. And now, well, she and Ben have gotten off work and are waiting desperately for that promised call.

They've always known that parenting wouldn't be easy, ever since they took in the twins years ago. But nothing, not her parents, not the parenting manuals, her friends, neighbors, had ever prepared her for parenting Peter and Piper, her two little geniuses. Peter, with his insatiable thirst for knowledge, and a mad scientist streak to match, and Piper who always needed to be doing something at all times.

It was always a struggle to keep up with them, even when May knew what they were talking about, but she had encouraged them. She'd enrolled them for summer science camps, signed them up for the free self-defense classes they held over at the near-by dojo, and when Piper asked, enrolled her for some of the other classes. She's watched them experiment with the chemistry kit Ben had gotten them for their birthday, Peter pulling Piper into his mad scientist spree. She's seen Piper teach her brother what she's learned at the dojo, along with every other kid at the playground.

May has watched them grow up, and is so, so proud of them. She's taught them Italian, her mother's native tongue, heard them stumble over the unfamiliar words, slowly gaining fluency until she could carry on conversations with them around the dinner table with Ben having no idea what's being said. She's shrieked with glee as the scholarships and acceptance letters for the Midtown School of Science and Technology came in for both of her children. She helped them with homework, bandaged their cuts and scrapes, kissed their bumps and bruises. She's done the best she can, but right now it feels like it hasn't been enough.

She's so proud of her kids, but she so terrified that someday they won't come home. That she won't be able to hug them, kiss them on the forehead and send them to bed. That someday she won't hear them argue about the most inane things. That she might answer her phone to hear that her kids have died, fighting a war they shouldn't have to fight, that _isn't_ _their responsibility_. She doesn't want them out there, fighting crime, but it seems that's what they've decided to do.

Of course, that hadn't been her first reaction to finding out about Peter and Piper's pastimes. Her first impulse had been to take the suits, ban them from ever going out, then go up to Tony Stark and slug him in the face for daring to pull her kids into his mess. But clearly, that didn't happen, though if she ever sees Stark again he will be getting a fist to the jaw. With Ben and Piper acting as mediators, eventually the whole story got out. About Peter and his powers, how after Ben and Piper nearly got mugged with the assailant getting away, he decided to start actively using them to help others, Piper following suit. How their 'internship' was actually Stark recruiting them to help apprehend Captain America and his rogue Avengers, (which had been something May had figured out, but made her incredibly angry to hear from the twins).

By the time the twins finished their story, May simply had to leave. Because this, this was huge, her kids, her children, had been keeping this secret from the two of them. She and Ben had known something was going on with the twins, of course they did, but this was no where near what they had expected. They had thought maybe, it was bullies, or something at school, they had not expected that Peter and Piper had taken Ben's lectures about responsibility to a absurd point and decided to go vigilante.

So she headed to the kitchen, planning to try one of her new recipes as she attempted to work her way through what her children had just told her. She hadn't expected Piper to join her. But when her niece started helping, May did not refuse the help. Piper didn't apologize, didn't make reference to what May had just heard, May didn't either, just worked. May had wanted to yell, wanted to scream and shout to the heavens about how kids shouldn't be fighting criminals, be on the streets, but she couldn't. Yelling never helped with the twins, especially with Piper. Piper who had always looked out at the world through different eyes, who stared out at nothing and contemplated the universe, the philosopher, the fighter. In the end, May only had one question.

"Do you need to do this?"

She looked into her niece's eyes in that moment and saw them unfocused. She noticed the tells of one of Piper's 'dizzy moments'. Piper's eyes flickered across the room, following invisible trails in the air. With the ease of long practice, May encompassed her niece in a hug. Piper whispered in her ear.

"A storm will be coming."

Now, with her children far from her reach and dread pooling in her stomach, she wonders if this was what Piper had been talking about. What Peter had been talking about when he had told Ben about Piper and her trances, about his suspicions about her possessing powers. But she can't do anything. So she hugs her husband and waits, praying for her children to come home.


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Marvel, nor am I the author of Dreaming of Sunshine. I am but a simple fanfiction author that builds off of other people ideas because I find it interesting.

"You will never be- a God."

Those were the last words Loki of Asgard spoke before the Mad Titan snapped his neck. Needless to say, Loki hadn't expected to wake up from that. So when he woke up along with the Asgardians whom had died, in a fully intact refugee ship. He had thought that they were all dead, and the afterlife was a bitter disappointment.

Because them all being alive was impossible. No magic or technology found in the known universe was capable of wide scale restoration on this kind of scale. The only thing Loki knew of that could have possibly caused them to be alive would be the Infinity Stones themselves, but given that there was no Time Stone in sight, and he sincerely doubted that Thanos had suddenly decided to bring them to life, the only reasonable explanation was that they were dead. The only good news he could take from that fact was that his oafish, idiot of a brother was still alive, that despite all the dead here, the ones left still had a king.

"What happened? Where's Thor."

(That didn't mean he was unwilling to ask Heimdall where Thor was. He was simply being thorough. Making sure the oaf didn't go immediately get himself killed.)

"Thor's on Midgard. There appears to have been a mighty battle. I can't see Thanos or the Infinity Stones."

On-! Never mind, of course he did.

"He's also gained a new weapon for himself. The Avengers as you call them are all there..."

"My Prince, what has happened? Where is King Thor?"

Loki turned away from the Gatekeeper as he channeled his magic to contact Thor to turn to one of the more daring of the Asgardian refuguees. He very carefully denies that little thing that feels like hope and presents a reassuring smile.

"His Majesty has currently misplaced himself at the moment. Heimdall is currently attempting to locate him."

The woman, a retainer of the palace if he remembers correctly, wraps her shawl tighter around herself as she looks warily at him.

"And that… vision?"

Loki tries hard not to think about bones breaking, of a fist crushing down on his throat, the feeling of _nOairIcan'TbReatHe_. His smile grows brittle.

"We're working on it. We'll continue on, once we receive confirmation from my brother."

"What of the children?"

The children who had escaped on the _Commodore_ with the Valkyrie, Korg, and his companion Miek. It had been a last minute attempt to save as much of Asgard's future as possible. Loki hadn't even tried to escape on the ship; it would have only lead to their deaths. He dearly hoped that they had escaped the Mad Titan's wrath.

"We'll meet up with them as soon as we're able. Don't worry; we'll have this matter settled as soon as possible. What did he say, Heimdall?"

The old gatekeeper of the Bifrost had stepped back, his all-seeing eyes back upon the here and now. His face was open with a look of what looked to be wonder. Heimdall looked Loki in the eyes, a smile across his face.

"Thanos is gone, my Prince. They brought us back!"

Some part of Loki's mind froze. Thanos was gone? The ever looming shadow of the madman of Titan that Loki had been looking over his shoulder for the last five years, whom had decimated thousands of worlds, whom had beat down the Hulk like he was nothing but a child, who had gathered the Infinity Stones of both Power and Space, and likely more, was… gone? It seems impossible.

"What?"

"The king informed me they brought many of the dead killed by Thanos's chase for the stones back from the dead before they scattered the stones across the cosmos. He says to contact the Brunhilda and bring her back to the ship. We have been given safe haven in a country called Wakanda until he can take it up with an organization called the United Nations."

That was… What in the Nine Realms did Thor _do_?


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Marvel, nor am I the author of Dreaming of Sunshine. I am but a simple fanfiction author that builds off of other people ideas because I find it interesting.

It was clear; these two would be the death of him. The only question was whether he would be done in by a heart attack or the righteous, parental wrath of the Parkers.

Looking down at the two teenagers- kids on Wakanda's special medical tables, Tony stifled a shudder at how close they were to losing Piper. After her light show on the battlefield (that Tony was certainly _not_ thinking about to the point of panic attack _thankyouverymuch_. Just what even-), he accompanied Doctor Strange and King T'challa to the royal palace through the sorcerer's magic hula-hoop portals with Peter and Piper. From there they handed the two teens off to Wakanda's best medical professionals and the fight for Piper's life began.

Peter was fine physically, just exhaustion from the battle (that he was most certainly going to yell at someone for at some point). Strange had assured him that whatever mystic spiritual thing he had done to 'bind his soul' to Piper would have no negative after effects. But Piper... they had nearly lost her. She'd flat lined 3 separate times before Strange and the Wakandans could get her stabilized. The first time having occurred when some well-meaning idiot had attempted to separate the twins; an act that had been promptly remedied by Strange. Peter was the one keeping her grounded in the first place, so the closer they were the better off she would be. It had caused some problems, but nothing could be done about it.

From there, Strange proved that the title he'd stuck onto his name wasn't all talk and actually had something behind it, being the resident 'master of the mystic arts' he knew the aftereffects of 'great workings' far better than any of the fancy doctors there. So while the Wakandan medical technology was busy spitting out statistics and status reports, Strange was there making sure she didn't die.

Tony had done the smart thing and gotten out of the way of the actual medical professionals, but that just meant he felt useless as they worked desperately to save her life. T'challa had been the one to pull him out of the room and into the waiting area. Which allowed Tony to start to actually process what _the fuck just happened_.

He nearly had a panic attack right there, but thankfully T'challa was there as a mitigating influence. Just.. god, Piper was just a kid. But she wasn't, she was quite literally the_ big bang that started the universe_. The avatar of LIFE, supposedly. A mini-goddess that was fighting for her life only 30 feet away. How does someone process that? Tony may be one of the smartest people on the planet, but there are just some things that you need time to process. Like your 17 year-old sort-of protégé being capable of wide-scale banishings, restoration, healings and sentencing megalomaniacs to an eternity of aware nonexistence.

Even now, he isn't entirely sure this isn't just some insane Scarlet Witch induced nightmare, just wondering when it will stop.

He had waited outside the room, for what felt like hours waiting for them to finish. T'challa left to cancel the evacuation call after Tony had called Ben and May Parker, giving his permission for the couple to come to Wakanda. Tony then proceeded to call Pepper up with the plans to bring the Parkers over and assured her of his continued existence. Hung up on Ross and ignored his calls. Catalogued the nanotech he had on his person. Started drawing up new schematics. Anything to keep from feeling useless, he'd even looked in on the twins' latest shielding designs and left helpful advice.

That's when Vision stumbled in with Princess Shuri.

Tony couldn't deny the complete, unbridled relief he'd felt at seeing the android alive, even if he looked like very expensive, vibranium-style shit. But that relief turned to worry as soon as he looked into Vision's face, more specifically, the yellow/black gem in his forehead, as well as the fear and confusion in his eyes.

"Vision?"

Vision had straightened up, but it seemed a bit awkward. It was the same stance he'd taken hundreds of times before, but-

"Hello, Mr. Stark."

Then Shuri butted in.

"Yes, yes, you can talk later. Right now you need to go find this Strange person and see if you can help Piper."

That got his attention.

"They're right in there. Mr. Magic give a reason?"

Shuri shooed Vision into the medical room before turning to face Tony.

"Something about sympathic energies. When Piper removed the Mind Stone from Vision she left a replacement in its place. He just woke up a few minutes ago.

That made sense, burnout, with a support source to keep it going-

"Want to compare notes?"

So with all the efficiency of two geniuses trying to get the story straight, he and Shuri booked it up to her lab and started to hash out what exactly happened. Obviously they didn't have the whole story, it being just the two of them, but with access to Wakanda's technology and Shuri's security clearance, they managed to get a pretty accurate timeline of what had happened. As well as the effects of what had happened. Piper's lightshow had released massive amounts of energy. More than enough energy to run the world for a dozen lifetimes and what was left over had started seeping into the land. Already, the battlefield was growing highly mutated plant life like there's no tomorrow.

But he digressed. Once Shuri had gotten a call from the doctor heading Piper's case, giving the all clear, Tony had gone straight back to the hospital room. Where he was now, and where he could hear footsteps coming in behind him.

"Your shield children are alright?"

Enter Drax, the living alien embodiment of everything Tony ever hated about jocks, perceptive enough to be annoying, literal enough to be frustrating. Somehow during their brief stint of waiting, the idiot had somehow come to the conclusion that Tony was somehow the twins' sort-of martial father-figure, something about cultural differences.

"The twins are alright. Piper nearly died, but hey, she's still here now. Nothing to worry about."

He evaded as Drax attempted to pat him on the back, probably in some attempt of camaraderie.

"It is alright to be worried. I know if it was my Kamaria, one would have to knock me unconscious and drag me out to get me away."

See this is exactly what he means.

"Why are you here?"

"Your Piper avenged my wife and daughter. As well as brought Gamorra back from the dead. There is a debt."

"They didn't do it for you."

"No, but if they ever need help, they will have it."

"Somehow, I don't think that they want a bodyguard following them all over the place."

"Likely not, they have a shield father already. But if they ever have need of Drax the Destroyer, they will have it."

"Anything else you want to add?"

"You have raised mighty warriors."

Looking down at Piper, Peter, the two of them sleeping soundly under the sheets in what looked like hospital gowns, Tony could only feel guilt. Piper, defeating a tyrant, nearly dying as a result, her damn suit next to useless. Peter, covered in black blood, never to be completely innocent ever again.

"Really? I only wanted them safe."


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Marvel, nor am I the author of Dreaming of Sunshine. I am but a simple fanfiction author that builds off of other people ideas because I find it interesting.

Putting down her phone, Virginia Potts, known as Pepper to the greater part of the known world, put on her game face on started dialing up Happy.

God, that man was going have her going gray before long. Pepper had no idea what really happened over there in Wakanda, but Tony sounded wrecked. Though granted, if her suspicions were right...

Tony was safe, Rhodey was safe, and the twins were alive. Pepper could read between the lines. Something happened to the twins, to Tony's couple of web-slinging protégés.

Of course Pepper knew about the twins. They were his pride and joy, and probably the reason for the man's sudden interest in populating the Earth. He'd spent many restless nights poring over files dedicated to the two, shuffling through Happy's text messages, designing new suits.

Pepper could understand the interest and fear they inspired in him. Geniuses, both of them, deceased parents who had been heavily involved in SHIELD, a couple of teenagers that were making a habit of roaming around New York City in costume and fighting crime. The 'friendly neighborhood Spider-Man and the ever mysterious Arachna'. They were heavily skewed mirrors of him. And likely the next generation of what might be the Avengers.

She says mirrors of Tony, but really a more accurate description would be of Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes, something she would never admit to anyone other than herself. Pepper is a proud American. She like many others, had idolized Rogers for years, the mighty Captain America, fighting Nazis and taking down HYDRA. She will admit with little embarrassment that perhaps she had once a little bit of a Captain America fan. She had known his story, his background. A small kid of poor means from Brooklyn who'd been chosen by an elite government project to be changed by the Super-Soldier Serum and become Captain America. She had known about the legendary friendship between him and war hero Bucky Barnes, the face of the MIA/KIA movement. Close as brothers, closer according to the rumors, so inseparable that even going overseas wouldn't split them apart. A super-soldier and his best friend. A teenager with superhuman powers and a moral obligation to fight, and his twin with none who was tagging along to watch his back, all they needed to do was team up with the other maybe underaged vigilantes popping up and they'd have their own Howling Commandos.

Granted it wasn't a perfect parallel, or even a kind one, but Pepper couldn't help but make it. She'd never met them; she only had files and Tony's ramblings to judge from. Hey, maybe they weren't like that, but Pepper couldn't help but worry about Tony. Tony who cared and wanted to protect the whole damn world but always got hurt by the ones he trusted for his efforts. His father, Stane, the Avengers... She just hopes that the twins won't be the latest in a long list of heartbreaks. Pepper loves Tony, but the thing about love is that you're always going to want to protect them, even if the other doesn't agree.

As she makes her way down the building, she ends the call with Happy. Tony wants Happy to pick up Ben and May Parker. He'd told her that King T'challa had given permission for the couple to enter Wakanda, and will be arranging transport. If he seriously believes that she won't be accompanying them, he has another thing coming.


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Marvel, nor am I the author of Dreaming of Sunshine. I am but a simple fanfiction author that builds off of other people ideas because I find it interesting. Other people's ideas and stories from the forums also get referenced in in this.

Piper woke up in her room, but it wasn't her room. Not the room she's lived in with her brother for the last 14 years. The world felt cloudy, dreamlike, clear like a memory plucked out of her head and given solid form. She felt the old quilt under her legs, could smell the lingering scent of web fluid and potato chips, and saw the imprint of the chocolate syrup stain left on the rug.

But standing up, the biggest indicators had to be the purple aurora borealis outside her window, and the strangefamiliarforeignmine power coursing through her veins, making up the world around her. The familiar feeling of limbo threaded throughout.

_**"It's been a long time, Shikabane-hime."**_

Spinning around, Piper found her eyes meeting with a girl leaning against the door frame. She was familiar, her dark hair pulled back in a braid like she had for so many lifetimes, dressed like a civilian, stood like a warrior, but her eyes… they looked like hers. Old, filled with memories worth of a thousand lifetimes, they were filled with stars. Piper felt that old, familiar pull towards this girl who couldn't be any older than 16.

"I know you." A statement, a fact, a memory faded by time, haunting her memories. Memories that she could feel pressing up against her mind, slowly bubbling up out of obscurity, they were filled with terror, fear, love, desperation.

The girl nodded before speaking with the ethereal resonance of the starsong beating in her heart, _**"We don't have much time. What do you remember?"**_

Vision on a table, the starsong in her mind, the yellow light of the infinity stone flickering in the edges of her vision, not enough time, not enough time! Then-

"Oh."

Her heart swelled, even as she felt so, so small.

"You're me."

The girl who _wasiswillforeverbe_ Shikako Nara, her echo upon the universe gives a small smile. A bright little thing, filled with the delight of recognition.

_**"We've missed you, our heart."**_

Shikako doesn't go in for a hug, but she doesn't need to, she isn't human, she's an avatar of the Infinity Stones, of the pieces she had split from herself. She's everywhere, _timespacepowerrealitysoulmind_. A familiar, silent companion who's been there by her side from the moment she was reborn here.

Piper is mildly embarrassed that her first words to her other self are...

"Marvel, huh?"

Shikako just laughs, her eyes glittering in glee, _**"That was all you, our heart. When you were reborn as Reneѐ, it caused a reflective affect here. Just as most species have rudimentary chakra systems, most of which that evolved to channel multi-dimensional energy, this world developed in a similar fashion to that reality."**_

Memories bubbled up, of humid New Orleans night, arid Egyptian days, a lost and found brother, a sister of storms.

"Why am I here?"

The girl's galaxy eyes slowed as her face turned solemn, pushing herself from the doorway to step into the room.

_**"There are some things you need to know. Before you return to flesh, about the light of life you hold."**_

Of course, save the universe and there are complications.

"Calm down, kohai. It's nothing bad."

Her eyes dart back to the door way and-

Aoba.

Upsticking hair, sunglasses, and a…

"You're Death?!"

Because there he was, standing outside the room in ninja pants, vest and a ridiculously garish t-shirt saying** Hi, I'm Death! Welcome to Your Afterlife!**

_AobawhoisDeath_ grinned fondly, walking forward and ruffling Piper's hair.

"Well it certainly isn't you. You couldn't maintain an afterlife to save your life."

_**"We couldn't revive him, but we could bring him with, Jashin took him. We took him back. And gave him new life, if different."**_

Piper could feel the smile spreading across her face, even as Aoba smirked.

"Because I died in the pocket dimension the Jashinists had created, my soul had followed you when you pulled Jashin out and away to this empty reality. I couldn't talk to you then, being just a normal soul. But when you caused that explosion of cosmic and mystic energies by Splitting, well, let's just say I got an upgrade. Besides, Kakashi would have found some way to kill me if I didn't make sure you were okay."

She could feel the immaterial tears forming in her eyes, but blinked them back, "Probably."

Piper could hear her other self huff fondly in the background as Aoba drew back, leaning back into her and Peter's old ratty spinning chair, _**"But back on topic, the sorcerer is still drawing the life energy from your flesh body to keep you alive."**_

Aoba leapt back into the conversation, leaning back against the wall of her and Peter's tiny room, "If you were anyone else you would have been burnt to a crisp by that much cosmic energy using you as a conduit. But because of that little stone you keep in your heart, it managed to convert the energy into a slightly more manageable form to keep you from burning alive immediately. But it's still dangerous, and powerful. Strange is going to need to keep that stuff under lock and key. It's the most concentrated form of life-energy you'll ever find and if it falls into the wrong hands they could use it for any number of terrible things, like resetting the universe, blowing up planets, that sort of thing."

Piper can still feel it, the pulse raging beneath her skin. If she concentrated, she could almost feel the shadow of a hand on her forehead, drawing the power out. She looked at Shikako, whose hands were folded into the thinking pose.

_**"You will live, as will Peter, but there will be others who will seek your life energy. Reclaiming the Infinity Stones caused a shockwave that reverberated across the fabric of reality, of all our reality-cluster, anyone who's sensitive to such vibrations will know that the balance of powers has changed. Ancient, powerful things have been awakened, and others will look to Earth to find out what happened."**_

"And I suppose asking you to increase Earth's mystical protections would be too much to ask."

Both cosmic entities looked at her with grins on their faces, Shikako sheepish, Aoba straight out laughing, "Got it in one. We're bound by our own rules. Beings bound by concept and all that. But you? I think if you really put your mind to it you could help that new Sorcerer Supreme with a new barrier design, Life."

She could feel the weight of the responsibility falling on her shoulders and couldn't help the slump in her shoulders at the prospect of her future sleepless nights.

"Wonderful, I don't suppose you have any other warnings?"

Aoba shrugged, "There are a couple of Lightforce-derived aliens called Gibboram possessing influential people on the west coast along with a hybrid running around. Fury has a pager able to contact a human with a Kree-made, self-generating source of artificial life energy. You might want to meet her at some point. Lightforce and Darkforce experiments going on in New Orleans, nothing that probably won't end up resolving itself, but if you want to experiment in high tension situations they would be good places to start.

"You also might want to start experimenting with natural energy. After all, Inhumans are just humans with genetic alterations causing them to become bastardized natural sages once they're exposed to concentrated doses of natural energy, such as the Terrigen Mist particles or, you know, large bursts of radiation."

Piper stared at Aoba for a moment, putting the pieces together. She could feel the start of a headache starting to bloom in her head. No wonder Banner had felt so much like a whirlpool to her senses. If he was naturally pulling all the natural energy around him into himself…"The Hulk is a bastardized form of Sage Mode."

Shikako grinned, but quickly grew sober as a book dissolved in her hand.

_**"Yes, but we can't keep you here much longer. This isn't where you belong. Even now that twin of yours is trying to follow you here. You must return to your body."**_

She was right, Piper could feel the pylon of Peter's spider-silk bond pulling within her; the bond tethering her to her flesh body, leading her out of this astral plane. They'd both promised. She couldn't die here.

Looking them both, Piper had only one last thing to say before she made her way back home.

"Were they happy? Naruto, Sasuke, and the others? Did they survive?"

Aoba's smile became soft and fond, even as the world around them began to dissolve like smoke. She-who-was-Shikako was the same.

"Play your cards right, and you might just find out."

Those were the last words Piper heard before she felt herself be pulled away and folded into the oblivion of unconsciousness.

A/N: Here's the first completely new chapter! Thanks to everyone who's favorited and written reviews, it gives me the warm'n'fuzzies. Enjoy!


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Marvel, nor am I the author of Dreaming of Sunshine. I am but a simple fanfiction author that builds off of other people ideas because I find it interesting.

Death was quick. Death was slow. Death was the feel of a blade between her fingertips in dawning horror. Death was her father's treacherous tears, the unyielding grip on her arm as he dragged her kicking and screaming. Death was helpless anguish, the roar of the air rushing past her as she fell, fell, fell…

Death was the brief agonizing moment, body cracking and crushing against the cold, unforgiving stone. There and gone in a blink of an eye.

Pulling herself to her knees, Gamora knows she's dead. She hates herself for her failure, hates knowing that now, because of her, through her sacrifice; Thanos is that much closer to completing his crusade. Despair, that she's left them all for nothing.

The Afterlife, she finds, is very, very orange. The ground liquid, ripples expanding outward with every movement she makes. She sits under an archway she hasn't seen since Thanos stole her away. And she isn't alone, here in this place. Looking out, she nearly flinches back, standing up as she sees him.

For walking toward her, there is a man, a male alien that could easily pass for a Terran, Xandarian, or a number of other races in origin. His clothes are simple, practical, easy to move in, easy to fight with, he wears a headband with metal plating sporting an unfamiliar symbol, possibly denoting loyalty, sunglasses obscure his eyes. He isn't particularly imposing, slim and shorter than Peter. But, the hairs at the back of her neck start to stiffen, and she can feel herself straightening at his approach, erase any emotion she may feel from her face. He looks straight at her, and walks with nary a ripple on the ground.

Gamora can't bring herself to move, some nebulous instinct honed from decades under her father and siblings _loving_ care ringing in the back of her mind. The stranger is dangerous, clearly, but she can't help but notice… He looks sad.

He stops, his hands tucked casually in his pockets and Gamora can't help but fidget under his gaze.

"Hello, Gamora."

"Where am I?"

She is dead. Gamora knows she's dead. Even with the various enhancements Thanos had granted her with throughout her lifetime she couldn't have survived that fall. But this doesn't make sense. She's had enough training regarding magic and astral combat with Maw to know she's currently in astral form. Thanos sacrificed her at the ruins, to obtain the Soul Stone. She doesn't know what sort of enchantments the former inhabitants of Vormir had cast upon of the Soul Stone. Perhaps this is simply one more of the protections placed upon the Soul Stone. Even so, if this man who speaks her native tongue has the answers, she must know.

He sighs, "You already know, Gamora, it isn't called the Soul Stone for nothing. The sacrificial ceremony has trapped your soul in here as proof of Thanos's claim. And you're currently stuck here until something's done about it."

Dammit, now he has four.

"Then who are you. A sorcerer?"

"Aoba, I'm the one who's going to make sure you return to your body. And for your information, I prefer to be called a ninja thank you very much."

He looks fondly over at her and Gamora can't help but relax a little even though she knows that's impossible. Her skull had cracked, her blood and brain matter is likely scattered, her body broken and sprawled across the rocks. There is no returning to the land of the living for her. No matter what this Aoba thinks

"I'm dead. Stuffing me into my body won't do much to change that."

"True, your body is definitely out of commission, but it won't be that way for long."

Her not-so-solid brain froze at the implications. No. Nonononono

"I'd rather die than go back to that monster!"

Thanos is no benevolent god. She doubts that he'd ever actually resurrect her, but he claimed that he loved her, and she clearly doesn't understand he nearly as well as she had believed. But life under that tyrant was hell and she refuses to become one of his brainwashed little soldiers. Because if he did, she had no doubt that he would make it so she couldn't disobey him ever again.

The man seems to have caught her train of thought; he immediately looks horrified, "Kid, no, Thanos won't be pulling any resurrection acts. Trust me; he can't pull you from here. He wouldn't even know how to start. Not that he'd get the chance."

He wouldn't- What?

"What do you mean by he won't get the chance?!"

Thanos has four of the Infinity Stones. Even if Thor is confident in his belief in Earth's ability to repel Thanos's move for the stones, Gamora is not. She still remembers the power etched into her soul. All of them who had been there that day did. The pure, burning, intoxicating rush of the Power Stone; they all had nightmares of that day, of burning till there was naught but ash. There had been nights where they'd all wake up and gather in the galley, silent and assuring themselves that they were all there, all alive. She remembers the destruction they had wrought. She loves her family, and she knows that they would fight Thanos with everything they had, but she knows they cannot win.

He looks at her, expression wry and dangerous and Gamora can feel the chills spill down her spine, "You don't really think that if some upstart starts to push the universe, the universe wouldn't push back? I've been anticipating this day for decades; Thanos won't know what hit him."

"What are you talking about?"

"Tell me, Gamora, how familiar are you with the legends regarding the Life Stone?" He lowers his shades and Gamora's breath catches, her animal instincts ramping up, screeching in the back of her mind, "Because that's important."

They're like black holes, void irises surrounded by bone white scelera.

"It's supposed to the final stone of the set. Legends call it the heart of the universe. Origin of Life," Gamora looks at Aoba's eyes for a few brief moments before turning to stare out into the ever shifting, ginger horizon, resisting the urge to look back, "Though you already know that, Death."

Death- Aoba replaces his shades and Gamora lets out a nonexistent breath as his aura recedes. She listens.

"Smart girl, you're right. But it's a bit more complicated than that. You see Life isn't a stone, I mean she does carry the stone, but it's more of a manifestation of her station than an actual object of power like the Infinity Stones. This reality was born when she went mad and split herself in order to try and make herself mortal again. Life hasn't existed in this plane for eons. Until about oh, maybe 17 years ago? I don't know.

"When Thanos started his rise to power, I could feel his intent cast upon the universe through the Mind Stone. To collect the Infinity Stones and eliminate half of all life in the universe. To 'save' it, of course. Wasn't much I could do about it, being limited to the realm of the dead as I was. And at first, I had hoped that perhaps he would overextend, get himself killed like so many before him. But eventually, I could feel the tides gathering beneath him, and I couldn't stand by. So I started to shift things, carefully, but I moved using what power I could to influence people, the Infinity Stones, places. Doing my best to set up for his downfall."

"What does this have to do with Life."

Aoba leans against one of the pillars, tiredly staring upward as he continues.

"The thing is, Life, she doesn't normally exist here, she's stuck in an endless cycle of rebirth because of her natural resistance towards Death, jumping from reality to reality every time she dies. So all I could do on that front was call in a few favors, set out a sort of spiritual homing beacon/tether and hope for the best. A hope that was rewarded when a healthy baby girl was born with a stone in her heart. On Terra, a planet possessing both the Time and Space stones. And coincidentally where Thanos is going to end up in his search for the Infinity Stones."

"And how are you so sure she'll be able to stop him?"

Aoba barks out a laugh and it reverberates across the world. Streamers of tangerine seem to brighten the sky at his good humor.

"She's a Lucky Seven. Shikako has never been able to keep out of trouble. The ball's in her court now. No matter how inevitable he believes himself to be, Thanos can't change the fact that the Infinity Stones aren't his to command. No matter what technology he uses, they'll always answer her call. And when that happens, bye-bye Thanos."

Shikako, Aoba. Life, Death.

"Is that her name? Shikako?"

Aoba grins and Gamora can't help but smile back.

"It was when I knew her, but the finale's finally here. Good luck out there, Gamora. Go meet the good old Shikabane-hime for yourself. I've got a job to do."

It was an odd thing to feel grateful towards Death.

"Thank you, Aoba."

Aoba gives her a haphazard salute.

"Just doing my job. Don't see me anytime soon."

Those were the last words she heard before the world went dark, she snapped open her eyes and _breathed_.

A/N: I hope you guys enjoy this! Thank you to everyone who's shown support for this story!

TekoloKuautli- The Shikako from the previous chapter was kinda the collective consciousness of the Infinity Stones/Shikako's imprint of herself that's spread across reality. She doesn't always exist in that form because it's difficult to consolidate herself in a single consciousness like that, especially since the Infinity Stones are so rarely all in the same place. Same for Aoba/Death. So while they occasionally do things like this it definitely isn't often. As for the Infinity Stones... who knows they can be literally anywhere.


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Marvel, nor am I the author of Dreaming of Sunshine. I am but a simple fanfiction author that builds off of other people ideas because I find it interesting.

Short summary of the chapter, in which I take the few things we know of MCU Asgardian history and take it to new heights. Also sibling comparisons.

* * *

As the final barrier fell, Thor watched as the others rushed forward towards the two unconscious Midgardian children.

_Damn_

Clamping down on the expletitives that threatened to rise up, Thor fought down the lightning raging in his veins, still crackling in the aftermath of yet another hard-fought battle. Released a shuddering breath, he eased his grip on Stormbreaker's handle, reveling in the pure, heavy _seidr_ that was engulfing the area. Thus ends the final chapter Ragnorok in the Prophecies of the Norns, the world standing silent before the spirit of Yggdrasil. Nidhogg vanquished at the hand of a child. Fate decided by two mortals, Lif and Lifthrasir, Life and Striving After Life.

And Thor, helpless, to watch as his brother's murderer (his manipulator, who'd torn his brother's psyche and twisted it to his own ends, just as Loki had to Clint not so long ago) was so easily brought to heel by a Midgardian child with stars in her eyes. Even with the the powers and skills bestowed to him by his lineage, by his 1500 years of life, by being flash-fried by the full power of the forge-star of Nidavellir to gain Stormbreaker, and he still could do nothing but stand by as his enemy was defeated by another.

It left a bitter tang in his mouth. Just like with Hela, he'd had to concede to another. It galled, however, that a child had to be the one to end this war. Thor was Asgardian, they by very nature of their physiology longed for conflict, reveled in battle, it was bred into them by millennia of war, of the shaping their very genetic structure through magic and the physical sciences to create better, stronger warriors who could fight harder, longer, faster. Those soldiers would then pass on those genes onto the next generation and the cycle continuing until to the younger species they had been like gods. They'd been this way for generations, children learning to fight from the moment they could first walk. But after Odin ceased his conquest (_after his sister lost herself to her lust for conquest), _his father had stopped. True, children still learned to fight, but it was curb their own instincts, to learn control, to channel that aggression into forms that wouldn't end up in war. None were allowed to join the legions of Asgard until they were 21 years of age, until their growth had finished and they were free to choose their own way of life.

Odin created an era of peace. He encouraged the development of the arts on Asgard, taking bits and pieces from the realms under him to rebuild Asgard anew. Thor could only hope that his father had seen what the war had done to his only child and heir and vowed no more.

(He didn't hate Hela, he pitied her. He'd once dreamed of blood and conquest. His blood still sang in combat, the only difference between them were that she was born first to be Odin's heir of war.)

(Thor thought sometimes that his Father knew that because he was that way, a child baptized in blood. If he saw Hela take and take and take, and some saw what Asgard would become, if he looked at Thor, fresh with the blood of Jotenheim and saw her standing there.)

(The only difference was that he had a brother.)

(Sometimes he thought that was why he hadn't been able to understand Loki as a child. Why Mother always did, she was of the Vanir, a war-bride. They didn't have the same instincts as the rest of Asgard. He wondered that if he had been more like her, perhaps-)

"My King."

**"****_the lost children of Asgard brought back to life,"_**

**"****_all who died this day to keep you from us will be brought back,"_**

Hope curled in his breast at the whisper.

"Heimdall."

He felt the dark, prismatic feel of Heimdall's _seidr_ hook into his mind and Thor saw. The bloodstained battlefield filled with allies replaced with the dark metallic walls of the Statesmen, his people whom he'd seen slaughtered by Thanos's bloody brood as he'd fought desperately to protect them all standing confused, unharmed. He saw Heimdall, his ancient eyes gleaming with _seidr_. He saw Loki speaking to the former head of the household, Valka, assuring her of their continued safety. He saw them all bright, wary and oh so _alive_.

"What has happened my King?

Thor felt his own _seidr_ jump through the connection, assuring himself that it wasn't some cruel illusion. Unwilling, he let out a huff of relief, tears gathering in his eyes, both cybernetic and flesh and blood.

"We won, Heimdall. We won."

* * *

A hand clapped on his shoulder, breaking Thor away from his thoughts.

"Are you alright, there, colonizer. You were talking to mid-air."

Thor turned to face the newcomer. Heavy-set, clad in the heavy, tribal garments that seemed common in this Midgardian army, he was one of the many warriors to which Thor had yet to be introduced to. A grin stretched across his face.

For the war was won, and there were things to be done.

"Never better."

* * *

AN: To start with, I am soooo sorry that this took so long. I don't have a computer at my place and it took me forever to figure out which POV I should do next.

So, to critiques. First, this started as a bunch of snippets on a forum, as such, that's the form that this fic is going to stay, though I thank you for your advice. It's greatly appreciated. Second, I've never watched Deadpool, never actually been all that interested in the guy besides basic information. As such, I have no idea what you're talking about. Aoba is Death in this fic. If you don't like it I can't change how you feel about it but this is not changing. Also, I've never heard confirmation that Deadpool exists in the Avengers side of the MCU, so for all practical purposes, Deadpool doesn't exist here.


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